I Swear This Time I Mean It
by aca-bealeve-it
Summary: Best friends Aubrey Posen and Chloe Beale find themselves living with Beca Mitchell, who they haven't spoken to in years, as they each complete internships in Washington DC. Will Chloe and Beca, forced to confront their complicated history with one another, be able to move past their falling out and start anew? AU. Bechloe.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I do not own anything related to the Pitch Perfect franchise (admitting that makes me very sad), nor do I own any song lyrics or anything else I may use that is not mine. I had this story idea for a while and finally gained the inspiration to flesh it out and publish it here. Here goes nothing!**

_Even if things get heavy we'll all float on alright…_

There are moments in time where, in retrospect, you'd give anything to have seen the look on your face. Such a realization could be instantaneous, popping into your mind as the event is happening, or the thought occurs when, hours or days later, your mind finds itself _stuck_ in that very moment, your jaw once again on the floor, once again attempting to process _what the hell_ had happened. Chloe Beale had a lot of these moments. And she often wondered why she had them as often as she did.

Chloe never let these moments get to her, always ever so resilient and continuing on with her life, conquering the urge to let it consume her entirely. Dwelling on the past and 'what ifs' was never an option; Chloe lived in the moment, enjoying life as it was thrown at her, or as the case often was, as she threw herself into life. This was important to remember in order to begin to fully understand Chloe Beale.

Aubrey Posen knew this very well; having been best friends with Chloe since high school, Aubrey was easily able to sense when Chloe happened to be nearing the point of combustion. She knew the telling signs; the nervous fidgeting of Chloe playing with the thumb ring she always wore; the biting of her bottom lip as one of her hands ran through the back of her hair, a look that says _get me out of here, now, _as her eyes lock on whoever happens to be delivering the latest unforeseen life development to Chloe. Aubrey also knew that it took a lot for her best friend to crack and get to this point; very little got to her because of her ability to roll with the punches, often wishing this quality would somehow transfer to herself through osmosis, from the place of highest concentration to that of the lowest concentrated area.

Aubrey wasn't sure how she was going to survive without her best friend while she lived in Washington DC for an entire semester. She was used to seeing her just about every day since their freshman year at St. Bernadette's, a prestigious all girl high school, where in the first week of classes, Aubrey was assigned to sit next to Chloe in honors literature. They had read _Julius Caesar_ over the summer, and their terrifying yet brilliant teacher, Mrs. Graham, was leading the class discussion on the scene where Caesar is stabbed. That day, Mrs. Graham, was standing next to Aubrey and Chloe's desk cluster, Aubrey being closer to their teacher. Without any warning whatsoever, Mrs. Graham, in the midst of reading from the play, pulls a letter opener (appropriately in the shape of a dagger) out from her sleeve, pointing it towards Aubrey, the whole ordeal being in good fun. While Aubrey was slightly shaken but ultimately unfazed by the action, Chloe let out a shriek, flinging herself across the desks and grabbing Mrs. Graham by the wrist, knocking her into another student's desk, the dagger shaped letter opener falling to the floor as she flew off Aubrey's desk herself. While Chloe was reprimanded for her actions, Aubrey knew that she had found a lifelong friend, and that she would try her best to protect her the same way Chloe did against their semi-harmless English teacher.

It was certainly a welcome surprise when Chloe revealed she was also accepted into the same internship program as Aubrey. Despite wanting to pursue degrees in medicine and public health after graduation, Chloe was able to complete the semester long internship while also being able to graduate on time, a perk of taking college courses in high school that had put her an entire year ahead of schedule. Both had accepted internships of their choosing; Aubrey had acquired a position at the White House, and Chloe would be working in the Senate health policy office working on issues that would be relevant to her future studies. They had even managed to be roommates for the semester in the internship program's housing arrangement. Granted, they had to share their apartment with one other person who they didn't know, but they were together which was what mattered. Their apartment was located in Washington DC's Capitol Hill neighborhood, where a number of the houses in the area were renovated and reserved specifically for interns. While some of the houses were just that, able to hold 10 or 12 interns, Aubrey and Chloe were assigned to one of the three apartment-like units within their house. They preferred it this way, only having to deal with three people to a kitchen and bathroom rather than twelve.

Chloe and Aubrey had the apartment to themselves for almost a week, as they chose to give themselves ample time to adjust to the new city before working full time at their internships. Orientation was to be the Tuesday after Labor Day, with their internships beginning the following day. Until then, the two friends settled into their new home for the next four months, familiarizing themselves with the surrounding areas and how to get to their internships sites. Chloe was thankful the Senate Office Buildings were within walking distance; she and Aubrey traversed the Metro numerous times that week when exploring the various areas of Washington. Not only did they run into numerous... characters in the Metro cars, they also endured the horror of being trapped inside one of the cars for a number of minutes due to a train ahead of theirs malfunctioning.

One afternoon, the Sunday before orientation, Chloe had come back to the apartment alone after a run, Aubrey having gone to the Eastern Market to pick up fresh produce to use for dinner later that week. Trudging up the two flights of stairs before entering the apartment, Chloe was welcomed by the faint beat of a song. Confused, she looked into the bedroom she and Aubrey were sharing, unable to find either of their laptops as the source of the music. Walking back into the living room, Chloe discovered oversized headphones on the coffee table, not belonging to either her or Aubrey, in addition to a zippered hoodie being thrown over the couch.

"O_ur new roommate must be here!"_Chloe thought, "_But where could she be?"_It didn't take long for Chloe to find the answer, as she followed the music to the closed single bedroom across the hall from her own. While Chloe normally would have knocked on her roommate's door and introduced herself right then and there, the overwhelming need to take a cold shower after enduring a run in 90 degree weather with upwards of 100 percent humidity overcame her, and Chloe gathered her towels and made her way over to the bathroom, humming to herself. After getting out of the shower, towel secured around her body, she realized the music sounded much closer than before, realizing that her new roommate must have moved into the living room. She had to give points to whoever she was, as she was playing Blackstreet's 'No Diggity' from her laptop, one of Chloe's favorite songs.

"_Getting paid is a forte, each and every day, true player way"_Chloe sang as she ran a towel through her long red locks.

"_I can't get her out of my mind, I think about the girl all the time"_ A second voice sang; Chloe smiled to herself at the exchange as she softly sang Teddy's part of the song.

"_I like the way you work it, no diggity, I got to bag it up"_

"_Hey yo, hey yo, hey yo, hey yo"_ Chloe softly sang back, walking out of the bathroom.

'_Hey yo that girl looks good'_ The other girl sang, who Chloe saw seated in the over-sized living room chair facing away from the bathroom. Chloe walked around to the other side of the living room, having no shame whatsoever to introduce herself to her new roommate. After all, she practically sang an entire impromptu duet with her, and Chloe didn't feel the need to hide anything to anyone, even if she happened to only be wearing a towel. The girl had brown hair that seemed to fall past her shoulders, her face bent down towards the screen of her laptop which she appeared completely engrossed in.

"How would you know, you're not even looking at her" Chloe wryly pointed out.

"Gut feeling" The girl quipped, a small smirk on her face forming from where Chloe could see. "Hi, I'm-" she began to introduce herself as she looked up from her laptop screen towards Chloe. "—No."

"Not exactly a conventional name, but I admir—"Chloe stopped mid sentence abruptly, locking eyes with the girl not even ten feet away from her. "Shit."

At that moment, the apartment door opened and Aubrey walked in, hands full with two large paper bags full of groceries. Puzzled by why Chloe would randomly be standing in silence in the living room in a towel (at least she had the decency to be wearing one this time, she reasoned), she understood as the saw the look frozen on Chloe's face. A look that meant trouble. The one that said _No. Fucking. Way. Is. This. Actually. Happening. _And then Aubrey looked toward the direction of Chloe's gaze and understood; she was looking back at someone she hadn't seen since their high school graduation, who she hadn't even spoken to since well before then. Aubrey took a deep breath to collect herself before she ever so carefully spoke as to not scare their neighbors below.

"Beca Mitchell, I'm going to say this in the only way I can currently manage; what the hell are you doing here?"

**A/N: Song lyrics at the beginning are from Modest Mouse's "Float On." Also, Chloe, Aubrey and Beca are all the same age, and characters introduced in later chapters will be within a year or two of one another.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I would first like to say thank you for the amazing reviews and reception this story has gotten so far. Although writing has always been a part of my life, this is my first fanfic and the first time I'm letting others read what I have written (I blame my issues with anxiety for this).**

**Second, I felt I should clear something up, as it seems like it is a point of contention from a few reviews I've read. In this story, Aubrey and Chloe's relationship is strictly platonic. They have known each other for eight years in this universe, and are very close to each other, but they are just friends in this story. While I do ship Chaubrey, Bechloe is endgame in this fic, and that should be evident within the next few chapters hopefully.**

**Anyway, this is a slightly shorter chapter than the first, but I wanted to update sooner rather than later; I'm fighting a pretty terrible cold right now, and I'm not sure to what extent it's going to hamper my productivity over the next few days. **

_And all of this was all your fault. And all of this, well it makes things worse._

Beca stared back at Aubrey, refusing to let herself look at Chloe. "Well, Washington, DC…living in student housing that's specifically set aside for one internship program … it doesn't take a genius to figure it out, Posen" she smirked, making Aubrey want to smack her. Which was going to be a near-definite possibility if this continued on for much longer.

"Oh how I've missed that Mitchell sense of humor" Aubrey said dryly. "For serious though, please tell me that you're helping someone else move in and you'll be going back to wherever it is that you go to school now."

Beca shook her head. "As badly as I wish that were the case right now, it isn't. We're stuck with each other."

Aubrey pursed her lips, arms folded across her chest. "You slept through government in high school and were so apathetic about current affairs it would make me cringe. You wouldn't even vote in our fake election that the Debate Team ran!"

"That was one of the stupidest things I had ever seen-"

"It was fun!" Aubrey threw her hands into the air. "Not only was it cute dammit, it was informative as well and you could take your picture with cardboard cutouts of the candidates! It was one of the most memorable events I orchestrated for that club."

"Yeah, you definitely used that on your résumé and college applications, I had my suspicions back then but this just seals it for me" Beca said blankly. "Tell me, did you question why she was tagging along with you and interning here as well?" she pointed at Chloe, still standing where she was when Aubrey walked in. Aubrey looked over at a taken-aback Chloe, who hurried into her and Aubrey's shared bedroom before slamming the door shut. Aubrey turned back toward Beca, fuming.

"Always such a way with words Beca" Aubrey walked closer to the brunette, crouching down until she was face to face with her. "You know, it really wouldn't surprise me if you somehow found out she would be here and did this just to mess with her."

"Yes, because I would waste an entire college semester just so I could play mind games with Chloe" Beca retorted, "You know what, I don't have to take this from you" Beca closed her laptop, standing up from the chair. "You and I both know this was a freakish happening done by the whatever from high atop the thing, who apparently has a twisted sense of humor" she walked past Aubrey, shutting herself away into her own bedroom. Huffing, Aubrey walked over to the door of her and Chloe's room, knocking before she walked in. Chloe, now dressed in a white camisole and pink shorts, was sitting on the floor against her bed, chin resting on her knees as she hugged her legs together. Aubrey closed their down and sat down next to Chloe; she lifted her head and turned toward Aubrey, tears rolling down her face.

"Am I hallucinating Bree?" Chloe asked as she wiped away stray tears, "There's no way this is real life" Aubrey pulled her best friend into a hug, knowing that there was nothing she could say that would make things better for her. "Seriously though, what the hell?"

"I have no rational, logical explanation for you, dear" Aubrey said, running one of her hands through Chloe's hair to calm her down. "However, I do believe I told you that if one Beca Mitchell ever made you cry again, I would personally kick her ass for you. And I'm not one to go back on my word."

Chloe giggled softly, sniffling as she looked up at Aubrey. "I'll let you know if that's necessary" She assured her. They fell into a comfortable silence, neither of them speaking for quite some time. Aubrey was about to check if Chloe had fallen asleep, her head now resting easily on her shoulder, before she spoke again.

"Maybe this is a sign" Chloe wondered aloud. She looked up at Aubrey, her blue eyes somehow even bluer after the crying she had done (_Seriously, how is that even possible_, Aubrey wondered).

"A sign as in next time we should attempt to get around the privacy laws barring us from knowing that we're living with a tiny, sarcastic she-devil before we move in? Good call."

"Ha ha" Chloe scoffed, "I meant a sign that maybe we should try to be friends with her or something. Or at least call it a truce. I honestly don't think I can handle living in The Land of Passive-Aggressiva for the next four months if this is how every interaction with her is going to go."

"We can just pretend she doesn't exist, that's worked in the past" Chloe gave Aubrey a look upon that suggestion. "Why would you want to be nice to her after what she did to you?" Chloe shrugged, unable to give her best friend an answer.

"She does not deserve your friendship Chloe" Aubrey stated, "But let's just take it one day at a time, okay?"

* * *

Beca sat cross-legged on her bed, completely beside herself. _Haven't you been the cause of her tears enough times already? _She told herself. _You could have taken the high road and acted like an adult and swallowed the sarcasm that seems to constantly be seeping out of you, but no, that train is gone._

She knew her…history with Chloe had always been characterized in a number of different ways over the years, spanning from being classmates who corrected each other's vocabulary lessons to… well being under the impression that they would never see the other again, as the current situation she found herself in reminded her. _It's going to be a long semester. _

**A/N: Song lyrics at the beginning are from Taking Back Sunday's "Cute Without the E (Cut From The Team)."**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone for following and reviewing- everyone's feedback has been incredible and it really means a lot to me. I know I've been updating with new chapters fairly quickly, but the next chapter might take a bit longer for me to write, as my own LSAT studying has gotten quite lax since beginning this fic. To balance it out, this chapter is a little longer than the previous two. I hope it doesn't disappoint and that you enjoy it.**

_All the things that I've done go around in my head. And I can't forget all the things she said._

Whenever Chloe found herself stressed, she would do yoga. There was just something therapeutic about it that really calmed her down, as opposed to running, which would just end up invigorating her from the high she'd get from it. Needless to say, the first thing Chloe did when she woke up the following morning was pull her yoga mat out from under her bed and go into the living room where she would have space to properly complete her go-to poses. About halfway through her routine-she knew this because she was just entering into downward dog- she heard a door open. Given that Aubrey had left the apartment early to go to the Library of Congress to study for the LSAT, Chloe immediately knew it was Beca leaving her room, who upon seeing Chloe, turned around and began to retreat back to her bedroom.

"You know, you don't have to avoid the kitchen and living room just because Aubrey or I might be there as well" Chloe called mid-pose. Beca stopped walking and considered what Chloe said before turning around, making her way to the kitchen area, which was adjacent to the living room. Minutes later, Chloe walked into the kitchen herself, grabbing a glass from the cupboards for water. She found Beca sitting at the kitchen counter, dressed in a pair of flannel pants and an oversized t-shirt, eating a bowl of cereal.

"I'm sorry about what I said last night" Beca announced a few minutes after Chloe had entered the room. "I shouldn't have implied that you're only doing this because Aubrey's here."

Chloe leaned against the kitchen counter, placing her glass on the island in front of her. "Well you should be. But apology accepted."

"Cool." Beca got up from her seat as she walked over to the kitchen sink to put her bowl and spoon in the dishpan. Chloe's eyes followed Beca, watching her go from the kitchen, living room, and what she assumed was her bedroom as she soon heard a door quietly shut.

_Well, she wasn't always the best communicator; I guess some things never change_. Chloe went into her own room, collapsing onto her bed. _Actually, she's definitely gotten worse at it. From what I remember she could at least hold a conversation. _Chloe thought back to an exchange they had at the beginning of their junior year of high school. She supposed it qualified as the first phone conversation they had with each other (let's be honest, who actually called people on the phone), but they had been friends with each other for a little over a year at that point in time.

* * *

_Five Years Ago_

Chloe was upstairs in her room one evening working on her homework when she saw the display on her phone light up, signaling an incoming call. She paused for a moment and put her chemistry handouts beside her before answering her phone.

"Hello?" she said, leaning against the wall as she sat on her bed.

"Hey, it's Beca"

"Oh hey, what's up?" Chloe said casually, not really sure why exactly Beca would be calling her. Not that Chloe minded of course, it just took her by surprise.

"Not much, just trying to figure out how little sleep I'm going to get this year with the ridiculous workload I somehow got myself into" Beca replied.

"I've already accepted the fact that Red Bull and I are going to be the best of friends" Chloe replied back, hearing Beca laugh from her end of the phone.

"I think that's to be expected when you decide to take three Advanced Placement courses. I definitely couldn't do that" Beca admitted.

"Well Aubrey has almost exactly the same schedule as I do, so I'll have her for moral and academic support. And besides, it's only AP Language with Mrs. Graham that's going to be the real bitch of it" Chloe explained.

"She actually let you in her class again?" Beca asked incredulously.

"She must have a death wish or something."

"Or she's exacting revenge. It's probably that actually" Beca reasoned. "Any class with her is bound to be challenging, and this is coming from someone that thinks her general class is going to be awful. Also, why couldn't you have taken Physics with me and Amy?"

"I don't know, maybe because AP Chemistry is so much more interesting? Plus I had Mr. Krane last year and I know he's a good teacher. From what I've heard our physics department sucks" Chloe explained.

"Yeah well maybe someone should have told me that last semester" Beca said dryly.

Chloe laughed. "We did, countless times; it's not my fault you chose not to listen to Bree and I."

"Well I'm sorry you and Aubrey have to be such overachievers and take college level science courses" Beca replied.

"Ok, you keep telling yourself that when you and I both know you'd rather be in AP Chem so you could be looking over soluble and insoluble polyatomic ions with me right now for the test I have in two weeks"

"You know what you're absolutely right, that would be the best thing ever." Beca deadpanned.

"I know it would, you don't have to tell me that" a grin spread across Chloe's face as she lay down on her bed.

They had continued talking for some time that night, Chloe remembered. There wasn't anything notable about the conversation she had with Beca that night, but the memory of it stuck with her. Things were simple then; she didn't have to question why she knew not to text Beca during her driving lessons on Monday evenings, or why, out of their entire American History class, their desks were the only two pushed together. Things stopped being simple with Beca when she let herself over think; things got messy quickly because of it.

It should really be no surprise why Chloe doesn't allow herself to over think anything anymore.

* * *

"Do you think she got lost?" Chloe asked Aubrey the next morning. The two girls were sitting in a conference room along with two dozen or so other college students for their internship program orientation. They had received emails detailing the orientation was to begin promptly at 9 o'clock; the clock on the wall read ten minutes past their supposed start time with no sign of Beca.

Aubrey shrugged out of her black blazer, hanging it neatly over the back of her chair. "She told me she would meet us here last night; I would hope that she would know where she was going."

The doors to the conference room opened behind them a few minutes later; Chloe turned around in her chair, seeing a huffing, displeased Beca walking into the room. While making her way around the large table to get to the sole remaining seat, Chloe caught Beca lean over Aubrey's shoulder, whispering something into her ear that Chloe could not hear. While Aubrey's expression remained unchanged, Chloe took note of the irate look on Beca's face.

"What did you do?" Chloe asked in a hushed whisper to Aubrey. Before she could answer their program director, Dr. Bradley, rose from his seat at the head of the table, signaling that their orientation was to begin.

* * *

"How were you taking notes on what Dr. Bradley was saying? None of it was important at all" Chloe asked Aubrey as they sat down for lunch in the atrium located on the ground floor of the building. "He literally spent five minutes talking about croissants."

"Oh, I tuned him out not soon after his PowerPoint presentation on what not to wear at our internships" Aubrey replied, "I was brainstorming topic ideas for the research paper due at the end of term."

"I should have known" Chloe chuckled, unwrapping the sandwich she had purchased from the nearby café. She watched as Beca walked past her and Aubrey, choosing to sit at an unoccupied table at the other side of the room. "By the way, why was Beca glaring at you when she walked in this morning?"

"That isn't her default expression?" Aubrey brushed off the question instantly.

"Aubrey Meredith Posen" Chloe began, "I would think that by now you would know that I can tell when you're lying."

Aubrey sighed, for Chloe knew her all too well. "Beca asked me last night if we could all go to orientation together since she wasn't completely sure where she was going. I told her she could, even though I told you differently."

"Why would you do that?" Chloe eyes grew wide in disbelief.

"I thought she should know what it feels for someone to say one thing to her and then go back on it the next day" Aubrey said as a matter-of-factly.

"Bree, I love you and I get that the protective mama bear side of you is coming out right now with Beca being here, but you owe her an apology. That was really uncalled for."

Aubrey knew Chloe was right, instantly feeling guilty about the pettiness that often got the best of her whenever interacting with Beca. "I'm sorry."

"Be sure to tell her that" Chloe pointed out. Aubrey rolled her eyes, a pained look spread across her face as she got up from her seat to go over to Beca. She sat back down, however, when she saw someone else approach Beca. Chloe raised an eyebrow at Aubrey, confused by her best friend.

"Apologizing to her is going to be difficult enough for me to do one-on-one with her, I'm not about to do that in front of a complete stranger as well" Aubrey explained.

"Fair enough," Chloe conceded, "I wonder who's sitting over there with her."

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Beca heard a voice in front of her ask. Looking up, she recognized one of the boys in her intern class standing in front of her. Shaking her head, the boy took the seat across from her.

"I'm Jesse" he introduced himself, "You're Beca, right?"

"It's a little creepy that you remembered that."

"It's hard not to remember the girl that walks in ten minutes late to class" Jesse pointed out, a goofy grin forming on his face. "Plus I'm fairly certain I saw you running in a failed attempt to catch the metro this morning."

"So not only did you see me running, you did absolutely nothing to make sure the metro didn't leave without me… that is what you're saying, right?" Beca jested.

"Have you seen the doors on the metro cars? Completely ruthless. They could practically take someone's arm off. Or at the least bruise it." Beca shook her head at Jesse, rolling her eyes at him. "So where are you interning?"

"NPR" Beca answered, "I'm mainly going to be working on their music program, _All Songs Considered_, but I'll be working in their policy office once a week as well."

"That actually sounds pretty interesting" Jesse admitted.

Beca shrugged. "I wanted to intern in LA at a production company but my dad insisted I do something more marketable in case, and I quote, 'this music thing doesn't work out.' So this was the compromise" she explained. "Where are doing your internship?"

"Generation Progress," he answered, "It's an organization that aims to engage and inform college students with what's going on in the country and promotes progressive policies. I'm going to be working in the multimedia office there."

"Nice. That doesn't sound too bad either" Beca noted.

"It seems like it's going to be a laid back work environment" Jesse agreed, "I'm looking forward to starting there tomorrow a lot." Jesse looked around the atrium, noticing they were one of the few people still sitting down for lunch. "We should probably get back to class."

"Can you just euthanize me instead?" Beca groaned, getting up from her chair and making her way over to the elevators with Jesse.

Jesse laughed. "Now what would be the fun in that?" he said jokingly as they got into the elevator to go back to the last half of their orientation class.

**A/N:** **Song lyrics at the beginning are from Electrelane's "After the Call."**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Once again, a big thanks to everyone who is following and reviewing. You seriously have no idea how much it all means to me and I'm so incredibly happy that people are enjoying this story.**

**Just as a general disclaimer, I have not interned at any of the locations explicitly mentioned in this fic, and all anecdotes told are my own creation.**

_Don't forget we've got unfinished business; stories yet to unfold, tales that must be retold._

It had been almost a month since Aubrey, Beca, and Chloe had started their internships. No longer were they at the bottom of the office food chain performing menial tasks day in and day out, and no longer did senior staff members within their offices not know their names. Actually none of this had occurred for any of the girls; granted, administrative tasks were assigned to them, but they were also often trusted early on to complete substantive tasks as well. At their internship class held every Friday morning they learned that this was not the case for all the interns within the program, earning them looks of shock and envy from some of their fellow classmates.

Working nine and sometimes ten hour days had taken a toll on the three roommates. Absent were the harmonies and bass lines of Chloe's playlists sounding throughout the walls of the apartment from the impromptu (and often solo) dance parties of evenings past. No more was Beca consistently staying up well into the early hours of the morning to finish a mix she had created. Instead, wonky websites and word documents held their attention spans, whether they were finishing a memo for their supervisors or keeping up to date with the latest political policies and news stories. Most importantly, it appeared as though the cold war between Beca and Aubrey had ended. Whether it was because they were too busy with work from their internship sites or simply too exhausted at the end of the day, the arguing and bickering had stopped between the two girls, or at least it had for the moment.

Being as drained as they were also meant they were in no condition to cook for themselves, frequently resorting to takeout from nearby restaurants or frozen pizzas. Chloe had grown sick of this by Friday afternoon after another mind-numbingly boring lecture from Dr. Bradley, and was determined to make dinner at the apartment that night.

"Can you get Nana Posen's scampi recipe for me? I want to make it for dinner tonight" Chloe asked Aubrey as two walked back to the apartment alone. Beca was meeting with their program director to discuss her research paper, the one-on-one meeting being mandatory for all students to have scheduled with him at some point over the past week.

"That's a family recipe, Chloe."

"Please, your family loves me" Chloe brushed off, "Anyway, I know that the 'secret ingredient' is that white wine from Napa that your family is obsessed with. I saw it in the liquor store near our apartment so I know I can get it."

"How do you know that? I've been trying to get that out of my mother for years!" Aubrey exclaimed, stunned by Chloe's revelation.

"Right place at the right time" Chloe winked, "So you'll get it for me?"

"I don't think I have a choice, do I?" Aubrey conceded.

"You're the best Bree!' Chloe beamed, grasping the arm of her best friend as they walked the rest of the way back to their apartment.

* * *

That evening, Chloe was in the kitchen of their apartment cooking the dinner she had planned. Well technically, she was waiting for the garlic to brown and the water to boil for the pasta; Chloe was bopping around the kitchen to the music streaming through her earphones, oblivious to the rest of the apartment. Aubrey had gone out for happy hour with her fellow White House interns, and Beca was in her room. Chloe tucked her iPod into the waistband of her shorts as she continued to work on making dinner.

About half an hour later, Beca opened her bedroom door, the strong scent of garlic wafting throughout the apartment. Wincing, she walked into the kitchen where Chloe stood, a look of bewilderment across her face.

"Are you trying to ward off vampires?" Beca asked sarcastically, eyebrows contorting in amusement.

Chloe shot a warning glance at Beca, smirking at her for her remark. "They must sell super-strong garlic down here or something. I don't remember it being this overwhelming the last time I had this at Aubrey's."

"How much garlic did the recipe call for?"

"Four cloves"

Beca walked over to the kitchen counter where the remaining garlic lay. "You do know that a clove of garlic is just one of the sections, not the whole head of it, right?" she asked, peeling the head of garlic to reveal the neatly divided cloves within.

Chloe's eyes grew wide, her face burning red. "I did not know that."

Beca and Chloe heard the front door of the apartment slam shut. "What in the world!" Aubrey gasped almost instantly, immediately walking over to the living room windows and opening them wide.

"Funny story, Bree" Chloe called, looking down at the kitchen floor. Aubrey walked over to where Chloe and Beca were standing, waiting to hear Chloe's explanation.

"I may have used ten times the amount of garlic than what the recipe called for…"

"Oh, only that?" Aubrey asked, the overwhelming scent making her eyes water. "You do know that a clove of garlic is only-"

"Does everyone know this except me or something?" Chloe wondered, while Beca tried her best not to laugh at the entire exchange.

Aubrey took a deep breath to collect herself. "Nana Posen is rolling over in her grave as we speak. My father always says 'If at first you don't succeed…pack your bags' and he got that saying from her."

"You're kicking me out of the apartment for messing up dinner?"

"No, don't be so dramatic, Chloe. I meant put it in a bag and take it out to the garbage" Aubrey pointed over at the failed attempt at dinner. "Let's just go out tonight."

"Let's go to Hanks!" Chloe suggested, referring to the seafood restaurant and oyster bar they had found during their first week in DC.

Aubrey shook her head, her hand going up to her chest as she swallowed the urge to vomit. "It would take forever to get a table there without a reservation on a Friday night. How about 'We the Pizza'?"

Chloe nodded in agreement, turning to Beca. "Do you want to join us?"

"I'm supposed to be meeting up with some people from my internship in a few minutes" Beca explained, "We're checking out a band that's playing over in Adams Morgan. But thanks."

"Oh ok, well have fun" Chloe replied as Beca grabbed her jacket from the coat rack before leaving the apartment. "Let me just change and then we can head out" she said to Aubrey.

* * *

A few days had past and the apartment had been properly ventilated, leaving no trace of the lingering scent of garlic. Aubrey and Chloe were seated in the living room one evening after long days at their internships, wine glasses in hand, an open bottle of wine resting on the coffee table with more nearby in the kitchen.

"Jackass!" Aubrey and Chloe looked over behind them from the couch they were sitting on as Beca entered the apartment, noticeably agitated.

"What happened?" Aubrey asked slowly, exchanging unsure glances with Chloe as Beca walked over to the oversized chair opposite them.

"Every week the program takes in submissions from listeners about their favorite songs, and one of the intern tasks is to help the hosts pick out songs that will be played that week" Beca began, rolling up her shirtsleeves as she continued. "The other intern in my office is a complete idiot and didn't do his work this week, so apparently he copied my selections and submitted them before I officially submitted mine and called it a 'group effort' " Beca gestured with air quotes. "I know it's a dumb thing to get upset over, but it's not that difficult to just listen to music! It's literally the easiest part of our job."

"What a prick" Aubrey asserted after listening to Beca's story. "You have every right to be angry over that. A similar thing happened to me when I was interning in my local Senator's office last summer. The interns had a shared drive but we each had our own folders within it; I suspected one of my fellow interns was copying my memos, so I started writing memos with inaccurate information, saving them to the shared drive, while I had my real memos saved to a flash drive. She stopped copying my work fairly quickly after our supervisor had a discussion with her about her blatant incompetency."

"Remind me to never mess with you, ever" Chloe stated before turning toward Beca, "Did you say anything to your boss about it?"

"He saw through it fairly quickly" Beca replied, "When he started asking us questions about why we chose the songs we chose and he had absolutely nothing to say, he admitted to not doing his work. It's just the fact that he did that really got under my skin."

"At least the truth came out" Aubrey noted. "Is that why you came home so late?"

"Actually, Jesse made me walk around town with him to cool down before I came home. So I guess you guys owe him one, or else I probably would've broken something in here" Beca admitted sheepishly.

"Would you like some wine? You look like you could use some wine" Chloe decided, walking over to the kitchen to grab another glass before Beca could respond.

"Thanks" Beca accepted the glass Chloe handed her. "What season of _The West Wing_ are you marathoning tonight?"

"How did you know that's what we were doing tonight?" Chloe asked.

"Well for one, the dvds are right there" Beca gestured to the array on the coffee table, "Two, that show is amazing and I could hear it from my room the same time last week."

"I can't believe you've watched _The West Wing_" Aubrey marveled, impressed by Beca's revelation.

"It was the one redeeming quality about government class. Well that, and the tirade you launched into about equal pay for women against Mr. Reid" Beca grinned as she recalled the exchange.

"Aca-scuse me?" Aubrey said, taken aback. "That was no outburst, Beca Mitchell, that was a much needed, appropriate response for his so-called logic as to why men are paid more than women!"

Beca's eyes lit at her response, not believing her ears. "Wait, you still do that? The aca-thing?"

Aubrey glared at Beca. "It slips into my vernacular from time to time."

"Try all the time" Chloe corrected tipsily. "She used the word aca-mazing in front of the President's Press Secretary last week" she added in a not-so hushed whisper to Beca, making Aubrey turn red.

"Chloe!" Aubrey sternly cried while Beca broke into hysterics. Chloe pouted at her best friend, blue eyes ablaze.

Beca quickly changed the subject. "So which episode are we starting with?"

* * *

Beca groggily walked into the viewing room of one of the studios, coffee in hand the following afternoon. It had been a slow day for her office, and her immediate supervisor had encouraged her to check out one of the other programs for the remaining hours of the day. Beca had decided to listen in on one of the news programs, reasoning that she might as well be up-to-date on what was happening within the country. While the first half hour of the program hadn't revealed anything particularly interesting, Beca perked up as one of the hosts announced that breaking news was making its way over to them as they spoke.

"We're just getting word of this now as this is developing so I don't have the whole story, but it looks like a lockdown order has been issued on the Capitol and surrounding House and Senate office buildings. Residents in surrounding areas have been instructed to remain in their homes and offices until further notice by Capitol and DC police…"

Beca attentively sat up in her seat, locked on every word the host was saying.

_Capitol. Senate. Lockdown. _She thought immediately to Chloe, who worked in those very buildings.

_Well fuck._

**A/N: Song lyrics at the beginning are from All Time Low's "Running from Lions."**


	5. Chapter 5

_Ricochet, you take your aim. Fire away, fire away._

'Well fuck,' Beca soon learned, was a gross understatement of what was unfolding a mere few miles away. This is what the news coverage of the lockdown story made it seem like anyway.

"-Reports of a motorcycle crashing into the Rayburn Office Building-"

"-Capitol police is responding within the Hart Senate Office Building to reports of a white particle substance coming out of the ventilation system-"

"-Witnesses report that shots have been fired outside the Capitol Visitor Center-"

"-A band of individuals have barricaded themselves inside of various personal offices of multiple members of Congress with the threat of hazardous biological weapons on their persons-"

"-This is just coming in from Reuters about a potential snake being on the loose within the Capitol, we have no idea if this is true but-"

_Then why put it out there? _Beca wondered as she and many others stood staring at the numerous television screens depicting the coverage from various news stations. She walked out of the break room, the continuous, repetitive language of the news anchors giving her a headache. Taking her phone out of her pocket, she dialed Chloe's phone number, the call going straight to voicemail once again. Frustrated, she called the only other person who would come close to feeling exactly the same way she was.

"Is it total crackpot day or something?" Aubrey asked bluntly, which actually made Beca smile.

"On the news or in the Capitol?" Beca retorted, running one of her hands through her hair as she leaned against a wall.

Aubrey snorted. "Have you heard from Chloe at all?"

"My call went straight to voicemail."

"Mine too." Aubrey paused before speaking again. "The Capitol complex is really big, Beca. And we don't even know what is and is not true yet."

"I know. You'll let me know if you hear anything?" Beca asked quietly.

"Just as long as you promise to do the same." Aubrey assured her, ending the conversation.

Beca walked back into the breakroom, the television screens all a blur to her as she sat down at an unoccupied table. _She's fine_, she told herself in attempt to get rid of the nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach. _What are you doing to me, Chloe Beale?_

This wasn't the first time Chloe scared the crap out of Beca. More specifically, this wasn't the first time Chloe was in the midst of what Beca perceived to be a life-or-death situation.

* * *

_December of junior year_

Beca sat at her kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal before school that morning. She opened her phone for the third time within the last few minutes, making sure she hadn't missed a text message from Chloe. She was used to texting Chloe constantly before she met up with her at school; why was today the exception?

Her phone went off as if it had read her mind. Beca read over the text message numerous times that Chloe had sent her before she was able to begin to process its meaning.

"_I just got into a car accident." _

"_Are you ok?"_ Beca replied back, five, ten minutes later (she had no idea how long she had stared at her phone screen), her head spinning as she got into the car with her mother to go to school. _If she's able to send a text message she has to be fine, right? Then again, Chloe could probably be in a coma and still be able to text._

With no reply from Chloe by the time she got to school, Beca walked up to the third floor corridor of St. Bernadette's, finding Amy sprawled out on the floor completing an assignment and Stacie sitting on the couch filing her nails. She looked down the hall, spotting Aubrey pacing back and forth as she talked on her cell phone.

"Aubrey, where's Chloe? She's always here before everyone else" Stacie asked as the blonde rejoined her group of friends.

Aubrey hesitated before responding. "She'll be here in a few minutes. She… got into a minor accident with her mom on the way over."

"She's coming in today?" Beca asked skeptically amid gasps from her friends.

"That's what I said, but she's determined to get here."

Aubrey looked over Beca's shoulder as she saw Chloe come up the marble staircase, no apparent injuries to her albeit slightly shaken; the blonde rushed over to her as she gently gave her a hug.

"I cannot believe you're in school right now. Shouldn't you be at the hospital?" Aubrey asked her, immediately taking Chloe's backpack off her shoulder, resting it on the floor.

"I'm fine Bree" Chloe assured her with a small smile, "The other car hit the passenger side where I was sitting but I'm totally ok. My mother wouldn't have let me come into school otherwise. She gave the nurse a heads up about what happened so she'll be checking up on me throughout the day."

The warning bell rang throughout the hall, signaling that homeroom was to begin shortly. Aubrey grabbed Chloe's backpack and slung it over one shoulder as she carried her own on the other, walking down the stairs to the homeroom they were both assigned to. Chloe turned to Beca, staring intently as the brunette fidgeted nervously where she stood.

"You're awfully quiet" Chloe noted, taking a step towards Beca.

Beca shrugged, her eyes locking with Chloe's before she threw her arms around her, burying her face in Chloe's shoulder. Chloe's arms wrapped around Beca's waist, holding her tightly.

"Do you two need a room?" Amy broke the bubble the two girls momentarily found themselves in, Chloe and Beca breaking apart from one another.

"I'm really ok, Beca" Chloe insisted, "I'll see you in US History, ok?" Beca nodded as Chloe walked away from her to go to her own homeroom. _There's so much I could say to her right now but I just… can't._

* * *

"Here's what I know: Someone was seen in Hart attempting to put a white, powdery substance in the vents. We don't know if they were successful. That individual has been detained by police, but there are others that have targeted specific offices of Senators and their staff. The entire building is pretty much at a standstill at this point" Aubrey told Beca about an hour or so later. Beca had grown tired of listening to the news by now (_I__s news really considered 'breaking' if it was originally reported close to three hours ago?_) and had shut herself into the studio's music archives.

"So the lockdown is just restricted to Hart then?" Beca asked.

"Not quite. The reports of gunfire near the entrance of the Capitol Visitor Center were true. While the shooter was taken down by Capitol police, it has been suggested that the shooting was a distraction, and that someone was able to sneak into the building armed, however that happens. Now they're currently doing a thorough search of the entire building. The motorcycle crash did actually happen near Rayburn, but it seems like it is completely unrelated. Apparently the rider has a seizure disorder and lost control of his bike."

"Jeez" Beca processed the information Aubrey gave her. "Still no word from Chloe?"

"No. Here's the thing Beca… her office is in Hart."

"Oh" was all Beca could say.

"She might not even be in the building though" Aubrey reasoned. "She could have been in another building on lunch, or running errands for her supervisor."

"She wouldn't be ignoring her phone if she was on lunch though" Beca pointed out.

"Okay Miss Pessimistic, keep thinking that way" Aubrey snapped back, audibly taking a deep breath to regain composure. "Let's just assume that no news is good news. She put me down as her emergency contact so I would be the first to know if something happened to her."

"You're right. No news is good news" Beca repeated, attempting to convince herself of just that.

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Beca asked as Chloe walked into their US History classroom later that morning.

"Good" Chloe answered, her hand massaging the back of her head. "Is this glass?" she asked, showing the palm of her hand to Beca, revealing tiny, clear particles within.

Beca's stomach dropped, immediately jerking Chloe down towards her so she could examine her head for any cuts or gashes. When she let her go, a look of amusement spread across Chloe's face.

"This is a whole new side of you I'm seeing today" Chloe said playfully.

"Don't get used to it, Beale" Beca rolled her eyes, flushed.

Chloe only continued to beam at her. "Well it's adorable."

Aubrey walked into the classroom, immediately making a beeline for Chloe and Beca. "So during study hall I looked up symptoms of a concussion, and it says you should ask the potential concussed individual questions to make sure brain function or memory hasn't been compromised."

"Oh this should be fun" Chloe said dryly.

Aubrey ignored her comment. "What was the first movie we watched together?"

"Am I really supposed to know that?" Chloe asked, puzzled.

"Anastasia!" Aubrey answered. "We appropriately sang a duet to 'At the Beginning' during junior ring mass last month!"

"Well, you could have just asked me what song we sang together-"

"Next question" Aubrey interrupted, "What devastating event took place during our first chemistry exam this year?"

"The fire alarm went off" Chloe recalled, "And you snapped your pencil in half and threw a tantrum outside"

"The first half of your answer would have sufficed" Aubrey's eyes narrowed as Beca began to laugh, "I was stressed, okay Beca?"

"You are trying to test my cognition and memory Aubrey, I'm giving you all the information I remember" Chloe pointed out.

"You know, most people just ask what their middle name is, or the name of their parents" Beca mentioned to Aubrey.

"She's an honor student, she needs something more challenging. Last question for now: What is the creepiest compliment Mrs. Walters has given you?"

"That it's a shame blue isn't one of our school colors because I would be able to wear it nearly every day and it would bring out the color of my eyes" Chloe, without hesitation, answered regarding their calculus teacher.

"I think you're fine" Aubrey determined, "But expect more questions during Chemistry this afternoon." The bell rang marking the start of class, and the girls all took their seats as the class began.

* * *

Aubrey and Beca sat at the counter of Capitol Lounge, a local bar in the neighborhood not far from their apartment. It was almost 7 o'clock in the evening and they still hadn't heard from or seen Chloe, the lockdown now approaching its sixth hour. Neither girl said much to the other, for nothing could really be said.

"I texted Jesse, he's on his way over" Beca said to Aubrey, swirling her straw around in her Jack & Coke.

"What's going on with you two?" Aubrey casually asked. Beca turned towards Aubrey, a look on her face showing she was slightly mortified Aubrey had even asked such a question in the first place. "Sorry, just trying to make conversation!" Aubrey clarified quickly, moments before Jesse approached them at the bar.

"Wait until you guys hear about the day I had" he announced as he slung his messenger bag over a chair.

"With a tagline like that, how could we not be intrigued?" Beca deadpanned.

"This one's funny" Jesse replied, referring to Beca, "Today my boss sent me to cover a briefing on higher education at the Capitol Visitor Center."

"Oh my god did you see the shooter?" Aubrey perked up.

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there" Jesse assured her, "But no, I did not see the shooter. I had just gotten through security and was asking for directions to my conference room when I heard shouting. Then I heard shots fired."

"So naturally you went towards the commotion, right?" Beca inquired.

"Are you crazy? I am man enough to admit that I booked it the hell out of there all the way to my briefing" Jesse corrected, "And it was a good thing that I did because they issued the lockdown no five minutes after I got there. Do you know what they have at briefings at the CVC? Free food. Boxed lunches on boxed lunches."

"So you had a six hour picnic this afternoon" Aubrey concluded.

"And a very intimate discussion about the various roads we can take to cut the costs of higher education" Jesse corrected, taking a sip of his beer.

"Wait…so you're here. As in no longer in a building that's under lockdown" Beca said slowly, putting the pieces of what Jesse had told her and Aubrey together.

"Yeah, that whole second suspect sneaking his way into the Capitol thing was BS. The cameras were momentarily down so they couldn't assure without a doubt that someone hadn't gotten past security. The lockdown was for good measure as the swept the entire building" Jesse explained.

"That's not what I meant" Beca stated.

"Your point being…?"

Beca turned toward Aubrey. "We definitely should have heard from Chloe by now if the lockdown was lifted."

"Chloe? I ran into her when I was leaving the Capitol" Jesse replied.

Both girls looked toward him. "And you didn't tell us this until now, why? Aubrey demanded.

"I wasn't aware it was that important to point out!" Jesse reasoned.

"Did you say anything to her?" Beca asked.

"I told her that you and Aubrey were at the Capitol Lounge, she said she would be there after she grabbed her things in Hart. I guess the fiasco over there was just a stunt using no more than unscented baby powder."

"Here is what's going to happen," Aubrey decided, placing her drink down on the bar, "You are going to give me your phone number since you apparently know more than I've known all day. And I think you might be helpful in the future."

"I would not be opposed to that" Jesse replied, looking over Aubrey's shoulder as he saw a red headed woman walk into the bar, waving her over to where the three were sitting. Aubrey looked over her shoulder, immediately leaving her barstool and practically tackling her best friend.

"We thought you were dead!" Aubrey exclaimed, tearing up as she saw that Chloe was with them, unharmed.

"I'm so sorry; I didn't have my phone on me at all this afternoon. I was with my supervisor and the Senator I work for; I got to go on the Senate floor with him!" Chloe explained, still being hugged by Aubrey.

"What?" Jesse asked, intrigued.

"He was giving a speech on the floor about public health funding and I got to go along with him. He had slides with figures and graphs supporting his speech, and my supervisor let me switch the poster boards for him! I was on C-SPAN!" Chloe went on, signaling at the bartender so she could order a drink. "Not much after he finished his speech we heard the warning about the lockdown, and we went into a secure room until we were told otherwise."

"Like a secret bunker?" Jesse's eyes lit up excitedly at the thought.

"Sorry to disappoint, but no" Chloe replied. "It was still the most surreal experience of my life. Our classmates are going to hate me, aren't they?"

"Absolutely" Aubrey stated. "I'm glad that you're ok though."

"And I'm glad I wore a cute outfit today" Chloe joked, referencing her fitted gray tweed blazer, royal blue button down shirt, and charcoal gray skirt. "I hope I didn't worry you guys too much."

Beca turned away from Chloe and Aubrey as they continued to talk. Sensing something was off, Jesse walked over to the brunette.

"You alright?" he asked, standing in front of her.

Beca contemplated the question. "It's been a very strange day" she decided.

"Agreed. I got to experience a 'this-is-not-a-drill' sort of lockdown, in the Capitol of all places, and a girl completely out of my league instructs me to give her my phone number" Jesse mused.

"Can't say I didn't see that one coming" Beca remarked.

"She's quite possibly the smartest girl I've ever met" Jesse confessed, his eyes darting over to Aubrey and Chloe momentarily. "What's with you and Chloe?"

"Chloe and I?" Beca asked hesitantly.

"Oh, come on. You couldn't keep your eyes off of her once she got here, and yet you didn't say a word to her at all. Something's up." Jesse explained.

"It's really complicated, Jesse. It's not something I can get into right now."

"You like her. It really isn't that complicated." Jesse reasoned.

"Oh, but it is" Beca assured him, "It really is."

* * *

"Chloe!" Beca called to the red head as she stood at her locker, packing her bag before leaving school that day.

"Hey, what's up?" Chloe greeted as she closed her locker, "Did Aubrey delegate the next round of questions testing whether or not I have a concussion to you?"

"Believe it or not, no" Beca answered, smirking at Chloe. "Um, I… here, this is for you" she handed her a folded up sheet of loose-leaf paper, fidgeting nervously from where she was standing. Chloe, puzzled, began to unfold the paper to reveal its contents. "Don't" Beca instructed, "Wait to read it once you're home. Or on the bus home. Just not here when I'm standing right in front of you."

"Okay" Chloe said simply, not questioning her friend any further. "This isn't you saying we can't be friends since I've been in a car accident or something, is it? That would be really low, Mitchell."

Beca rolled her eyes. "No, definitely not" she assured her.

"Well, I'll text you later then" Chloe promised before she went downstairs to catch her bus home. After sitting down, she opened the piece of paper Beca had given her.

_Chloe, _

_Since I'm really trying to put off writing my English paper on _The Scarlet Letter_ that's due next week in Mrs. Graham's class, you're getting this letter instead. Plus it also gives me a reason to blame you when it's midnight on Sunday and I still haven't finished my paper (yes I was smirking as I wrote that)._

_Seriously, don't scare me like that! You had me really worried about you and I didn't know what to think when you texted me this morning saying you got into an accident. I'm really glad that you're ok though. Because if you weren't, you wouldn't be able to watch tonight's Grey's Anatomy episode (and I wouldn't get your constant stream of texts of you freaking out about what's happening in said episode). You wouldn't be able to room with me, Aubrey, and Amy in DC for our class trip that's in a few months. There's a lot of things that you wouldn't be able to do. So thank-you for not dying today. When Aubrey said you were coming in today I couldn't believe it. And I'm pretty sure that if you had started crying this morning, I would have too. And I never cry. I guess I'm attached to you or something. Weird._

_This took the greater part of 40 minutes to write. And I've hardly said anything. Oh well._

_Beca_

**A/N: You all know where the song lyrics above came from.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Once again, I'm amazed by the response this story is getting. Thank you to everyone that is reading, following, and reviewing. It truly does mean a lot to me.**

_I'm falling into memories of you and things we used to do._

The sole silver lining of having to endure class every Friday with Dr. Bradley was the fact that, more often than not, they were out by noon and had the rest of the day to themselves. Usually Aubrey, Beca and Chloe would just go out to lunch somewhere nearby, followed by crashing at their apartment as a result from being sleep deprived the previous four days of the week. Determined to make the best of their semester in the nation's capital, Aubrey decided that they were going to explore DC instead of wasting away indoors.

"Aubrey, Dr. Bradley sucked the life out of me- please let me just take a 20 minute nap before we gallivant around town, a half hour tops" Beca pleaded, dragging her feet across the pavement of the sidewalk as they walked out of their classroom's building.

"Absolutely not, we can stop somewhere along the way and get you one of those Five Hour Energy shots you're always drinking" Aubrey replied, taking Beca by the arm in order to move her along faster.

"Beca, did you read that story I sent you about those?" Chloe asked, Aubrey giving her a doubtful look. "I read almost one hundred news articles a day about health policy, does this really surprise you?"

"The author of that article said that they're fine in moderation" Beca pointed out, "And here you thought I just deleted the health articles you email me just about every day."

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Chloe grinned, the three girls standing as they waited to cross the street. "So we're meeting at the Archives metro station?"

"Are you not going with us?" Aubrey questioned.

"I have to stop in my office, I left my flash drive there yesterday and it has articles for my research paper saved on there" Chloe explained.

"You're not going to be barricaded in there for twelve hours, are you?" Beca joked.

"I will be sure to force Capitol police to remove me from the building if it gets to that point. Although I can't guarantee where I'll end up if I do that" Chloe assured, "We're two minutes away from my building, it shouldn't take long at all."

"Ugh fine, we'll see you soon" Aubrey and Beca parted ways with Chloe as they turned onto Constitution Ave, passing the Capitol. "You know, let's just walk over there, it isn't far at all."

Beca groaned but obliged, "At least it's a nice day outside." They were surrounded by trees in the midst of changing color, the lawn of the Capitol scattered amber, honey, and scarlet.

"I never understood why we didn't take our class trip during the springtime. I would give anything to be down here when the cherry trees blossom" Aubrey mused, a smile forming on her face.

"Seriously, who sends a hundred teenage girls on a trip in the middle of February?"

Aubrey shrugged, "It fit nicely around the winter break we had the following week. And it's not like it was snowing here; we lucked out."

"This is true" Beca considered Aubrey's point.

"I'll never forget the girls in our class who were up in arms about leaving for our trip on Valentine's Day"

Beca scoffed, the memory of a dozen or so girls in their class arguing with their class moderator in the auditorium one morning overwhelming her. "It's a hard memory to forget" she replied as her mind traveled to other memories of their class trip.

* * *

"Beca, you're good with sharing a bed with Chloe, right?" Aubrey had asked her as they entered their shared hotel room, luggage in tow. It was nearly midnight when they arrived in DC, and the only thing consuming the minds of the junior class was sleep after enduring a 9 hour bus ride.

"I thought you and Chloe were bunking up" Beca replied, slightly confused, as she had expected to share a bed with Amy during the trip.

"I'm not allowed to sleep in the same bed as Aubrey" Chloe said from behind her, heaving her suitcase on the bed closest to her.

"And why is that?" Beca asked, glancing over at Chloe for further explanation.

"I may or may not have…bit Aubrey in my sleep a few years ago"

"You what?" Beca repeated, astonished by the revelation.

"Oh you heard her correctly" Aubrey confirmed, "As much as I love you, never again. You don't bite people without cause in your sleep, do you Amy?" she asked the other blonde as she walked out of the bathroom wearing her pajamas.

"No way, I'm a very heavy sleeper. You won't have any trouble shacking up with me" she assured, proceeding to pass out on the farther bed in the room.

"I was having a nightmare that someone was trying to kidnap me and in my dream I bit his arm to try to get away. Apparently that transferred into happening in real time as well" Chloe explained. "You're ok with this, right?" she asked Beca as Aubrey walked into the bathroom to shower.

Beca shrugged. "As long as you don't try to steal my soul in your sleep I think I can handle this."

"I make no promises." Chloe replied as she and Beca changed into their pajamas.

Lights were out soon after that, the only remaining light coming from under the bathroom door. Beca turned on her side, facing away from Chloe and towards the wall of the hotel room, closing her eyes as she slowly began to drift off to sleep. She wasn't sure how long she had been like this before she felt the warmth of another body surrounding her, a hand running up and down the length of her arm. She stiffened at the contact, then immediately relaxed when she realized that it was Chloe next to her. _So much for sleep_, she thought to herself.

This shouldn't have been surprising to her; she and Chloe had grown close over the last five or so months, which meant nearly always having some form of contact with one another. From cuddling close when Beca was forced to watch a movie with their group of friends, to Chloe leaning her elbow on Beca's shoulder when they were standing around school, it had always been harmless and innocent. Beca had really thought nothing of it, because that's how Chloe was.

Things began feeling not so harmless earlier that evening.

Their junior class, along with a few of their teachers and parent chaperones, was taking three coach buses from St. Bernadette's to Washington DC, giving everyone ample room to spread out within the vehicle so they didn't feel completely cramped. Aubrey had claimed the pair of seats opposite from Beca in order to spread out her books and notes in a more organized manner. Chloe had decided to sit with Beca rather than sit on her own.

"You have the music, I have the warm fleece blanket" was Chloe's reasoning behind it. So Beca didn't complain, not that she had really minded anyway.

They were more than halfway to the hotel they would be staying at just outside of DC, recently having stopped for a food and bathroom break. The bus was quiet, only the hum of the engine and faint traces of music from earphones heard throughout the bus at this point. _Across the Universe_ was playing softly on the television monitors from what Beca recognized. She had comfortably placed her head on Chloe's shoulder not too long ago, wrapped snugly in Chloe's blanket with her, acutely aware of how close their hands were to one another. So it really didn't surprise Beca when Chloe had brushed her hand against hers when she had moved it to check her phone. What did surprise her was when she found her hand being linked with Chloe's after she had put her phone back into her sweatshirt pocket, squeezing it tightly.

_Okay, I can handle this_, Beca had thought, holding Chloe's hand back just as firmly. It was when Chloe began tracing circles with her thumb along the back of Beca's hand that Beca began to question its naivety, reducing her to biting down on her bottom lip, hard. Naturally, Beca began to do the same to Chloe.

So, some four hours later as they lay in bed, Beca didn't mind at all when Chloe wrapped an arm around her. In fact, she laced Chloe's fingers with her own, their legs intertwining with one another as if they had done this numerous times. She knew, however, that she had fallen hard for Chloe Beale, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

'_Just friends'_ _don't do this, right?'_ she remembered thinking at some point that night.

* * *

"Are you really surprised about the look the security guards gave you when you proclaimed 'I'm going to steal the Declaration of Independence' while we were in front of the very document?" Beca asked Chloe as they walked out of the National Archives with Aubrey later that afternoon.

"I would have thought for sure that people say that all the time in there" Chloe reasoned, crossing her arms over her chest as they walked along Pennsylvania Ave.

Beca rolled her eyes playfully, shaking her head. "Dork."

"Isn't this great?" Aubrey wondered aloud, a permanent smile on her face as they passed the surrounding federal buildings. "We missed so much down here when we were on class trip."

"I personally thought spending two entire days near the National Mall and Smithsonian was worthwhile" Beca said dryly.

"Okay one, there is a lot to see at the Smithsonian" Aubrey interjected, "But being there for the extent that we did meant we didn't get to see a lot of other places around here. We're doing this every Friday afternoon. As well as the weekends." She decided.

"Just as long as we fit in a coffee run, I'm okay with that" Chloe agreed, the girls starting to make their way over to DC's Chinatown area, adorned with numerous shops and restaurants, as well as the National Portrait Gallery and Verizon Center.

"Oh my gosh, do you remember the fiasco we had trying to get you cold medicine?" Aubrey asked Chloe as they passed a CVS.

Chloe's eyes grew wide, shaking her head at the memory. "Which part, when the tour guide refused to let me off the bus to purchase said medicine, or when the cashier thought I was the next Heisenberg and wouldn't sell me Sudafed?"

"Well, both now that I think about it" Aubrey considered the question for a moment, laughing softly at the memory. "You were so miserable."

"You weren't the one sharing a bed with her" Beca pointed out to the blonde, "I was sick for weeks after that trip."

"It is not my fault that I have a superior immune system to yours" Chloe rebutted as she walked beside Beca, "And I think we both know that could have been completely avoidable" she murmured, a smirk forming on Beca's lips that she saw out of the corner of her eye.

* * *

Their class trip had gone by a lot quicker than the girls would have liked to admit. They had done all of the typical, touristy sightseeing- The Lincoln Memorial, The White House, The Washington Monument- what memorial or monument hadn't they seen? They witnessed the ever so precise yet breathtaking art that was the Changing of the Guards at Arlington Cemetery. They spent an evening at the Kennedy Center, where they went out on its terrace, despite the bitter chill in the February air that begged them to stay indoors, in order to see the Potomac at night, and this is what they would remember over what play they had seen. It was the little things about that trip that they would carry with them instead of the main events on their itineraries. Like when Aubrey and Chloe were in complete hysterics in the hotel room late one evening when Beca and Amy were determined to try on the other's bra, the entire situation getting to the point where one of their teachers had to knock on their door in order for them to quiet down. Or the spontaneous decision to go ice skating at the Sculpture Garden, where Stacie had surprised them all with her dance prowess transferring fluidly to the ice rink. It was the smaller moments within the trip that truly made it memorable.

For Chloe, a lot of that had to do with Beca. She had no idea what it was about the short brunette that made her feel differently about her than any of her other friends, even Aubrey. Even still, Chloe often found one of her arms linked with Beca's as they walked around exploring the capital, or their hands always finding each other under restaurant tables or the bus rides from one destination to another. Class trip had been pure bliss for Chloe, and she didn't want it to end.

The night before they were supposed to leave was no different than any other along the course of the trip. Aubrey was setting up a wall of pillows down the middle of her shared bed with Amy (thank you room service) after being spooned in her sleep by the other blonde. Their room had taken on a less disastrous appearance than previous nights, as the girls began to return their clothes and other belongings to their suitcases. Chloe once again found herself practically chugging cough medicine and water before going to sleep, curled into fetal position towards the edge of the bed. Before long, she felt Beca's hand tracing along her back, finding herself smiling without warning.

"Hey, I can't sleep like this" Beca whispered to her, referring to their current lack of contact with one another. Remedying this, Chloe turned towards Beca so they were now facing one another and inches apart, her arms wrapping around Beca, not wanting to let go.

"Better?" Chloe said softly, able to faintly see Beca through the emitting light from the window. As a response, Beca simply put her own arms around Chloe, her hands going under her shirt and along her spine.

_Day four of cold showers it is then,_ Chloe thought to herself, _two can play at that game._

"What are you thinking about?" Chloe asked Beca, minutes, maybe even hours later.

"I…I really just want to kiss you."

A number of different thoughts flooded through Chloe's mind the millisecond before her response. Panic that she had imagined the entire admission. Shock that their trains of thought appeared to be in sync with one another. And desire…oh the desire.

Chloe closed what was left of the gap between her and the brunette, their lips softly grazing, the calm before the storm when their lips finally crashed together, the faint taste of peppermint flooding into her own mouth, hands going from waist to hair to…god everywhere. Never had she experienced a kiss so charged, so consuming of each and every one of her senses. Beca bit Chloe's bottom lip, running her tongue slowly across it, reducing her to absolutely nothing but being hers.

_This is so not going to end well._

**A/N: Song lyrics are from "One Year, Six Months" by Yellowcard.**


	7. Chapter 7

_They will see us waving from such great heights, 'Come down now' they'll say. But everything looks perfect from far away, 'Come down now' but we'll stay._

Chloe hadn't heard from Beca in a week.

It should be noted that there wasn't much that could be done about that- Beca had left for a ski resort in Canada with her family the morning after they returned from Washington, DC, a resort with no cell phone service and terrible internet connection. Still, Chloe couldn't help but think that Beca was avoiding her, despite the fact that Beca had told her countless times previously that they wouldn't be able to communicate while she was away. Chloe had thought this would have been a non-issue when Beca had told her weeks ago. Then again, Chloe didn't expect everything to change overnight (literally).

So Chloe spent the week off at home, trying her best to keep busy and her mind anything but idle- she and Aubrey endured SAT boot camp and worked on English essays and chemistry handouts, completed movie marathons and went out with their group of friends until they were kicked out of the coffee shops at closing time.

The nights were the worst.

The nights meant that Chloe was alone with her thoughts, and her mind would travel. She began to break down, piece by piece, the events that had occurred the day following their kiss. Beca hadn't said anything to her (not that she really could have when they were constantly around their friends and classmates), hadn't so much as texted her saying anything about what had happened. Sure, they sat next to each other on the bus ride home, but Beca had mostly kept to herself, barely talking at all, to the point where Chloe sat instead with Aubrey after a rest stop, forcing her best friend to stop doing schoolwork and play MASH and other mindless activities for the remainder of the ride home. And then the buses pulled into the parking lot of their school, Beca giving her a quick hug goodbye before getting into the car with her father. Cue seven days of static, white noise surrounding Chloe and their…situation (?) and it's really no wonder she began to over think the entire occurrence. It was the beginning of the end of everything being simple regarding all things Beca Mitchell.

* * *

"Senate Health Policy, how can I help you?" Chloe answered her office's main line one afternoon, swiveling around in her desk chair as she grabbed a pen and notepad to record any information she would need from the call.

"Yes, this is Jean Simon, this isn't Chloe, is it?"

Chloe sighed, internally reprimanding herself for choosing to answer the phone this time out of the four other interns in the office. Chloe had spoken to Mrs. Simon, an elderly woman from Vermont, in the past, who was insistent that it was a constitutional right of hers to receive prescription medications that were manufactured in the United States. "This is Chloe, Mrs. Simon, how are you?"

"Oh not too well. I was hoping you could explain to me why my pills are being made in India."

"We've been over this, Mrs. Simon, this is something you're going to have to talk to your pharmacy about." She replied patiently.

"Oh, nonsense. Now tell me, I know that somewhere in Obama's care law there is a provision saying that all Americans have a right to medications that are made right here in the US. Those other drugs made in other countries are not real!" Mrs. Simon exclaimed from the other end of the phone.

"First of all, there is nothing in the Affordable Care Act saying anything about that" Chloe steadily replied, "Secondly Mrs. Simon, I emailed you literature regarding the Food and Drug Administration's process that all medications and drug manufacturers must go through before they are available to the public."

"Perhaps you could read with me, line by line, this Obama's care law so we can find what I am talking about. I know it is in here somewhere… printed it out at the library last night in size 36 font and everything…"

_You do realize you just murdered an entire forest of trees with doing that, right?_ _That is a 900 page law in 11 point font,_ Chloe thought to herself, snapping a pencil in half. "That's not necessary Mrs. Simon, why don't I go through it for you and give you a call back this afternoon." She looked at the interface of the telephone, seeing the phone number Mrs. Simon had called her from. "I see that your number is 503-" she paused; after receiving numerous calls over the last month from Mrs. Simon, she had learned that the area code in Vermont was 802. A number beginning with 503 was most definitely not from Vermont, in fact, as Chloe examined the rest of the phone number; she realized it was a phone number she had recognized for different reasons…

"Beca Mitchell, you devious little bird!" she hissed, immediately hearing laughter at the other end of the phone before disconnecting. Moments later, Beca walked into the front room of the office, phone in hand, an amused smirk on her face.

"I am never telling you anything about my internship, ever again." Chloe solemnly swore as Beca continued to laugh, the other intern at the front desk with her also looking extremely entertained by the ordeal. "What are you doing here?"

"It's NPR's day on The Hill" Beca explained, walking over to Chloe's desk, "I get to sit in meetings all day with my supervisor as part of the policy portion of my internship."

"That explains the power suit" Chloe nodded at Beca, dressed in a black pant suit instead of the usual business casual attire she would leave for her internship in. "You should dress up more often."

"Sure" Beca said doubtfully, "I thought we could grab lunch if you're free."

"Yes," Chloe's eyes lit up excitedly, "Oh my god we're going to Cups!"

"What is Cups?" Beca asked, unsure of what she was getting herself into.

"It's only the best place on earth! Well, within the Congressional office buildings at least" Chloe explained, grabbing her clutch and a guest badge for Beca as they left her office, making their way over to the elevator banks.

"We could just go through the buildings since they're all connected, but we're going to take the Senate subway instead" Chloe told Beca as they went down into the building's basement.

"Yeah, there's no way that's real" Beca said doubtfully.

"Beca, there's a Wikipedia page about it."

"Do you believe everything you read on the internet?" Beca retorted, stepping out of the elevator with Chloe as they made their way over to a platform, Chloe flashing her intern ID badge to the security guards. Moments later, a 3-car metro line whirled around the corner, stopping in front of them, automatically opening its doors to let passengers on and off.

"Ha" Chloe said triumphantly to Beca as they stepped into one of the cars, the doors closing behind them not much later. They were quickly on their way to their destination, Chloe giving Beca tidbits of knowledge along the way.

"A flag from each state is hanging along stretch of this hallway" she noted as they blew past dozens of colorful flags on the right side of the wall.

"Do you have to tell that to people when you have to give tours?" Beca asked smartly.

"Oh, I don't do that. Only the interns in the personnel offices have to do that" she corrected, the cars coming to a stop.

"That didn't sound snobby like, at all" Beca commented as they got out of the car, seeing a group of people to the far left with cameras and microphones surrounding a group of individuals.

Chloe ignored the comment. "So up the escalators takes you into the Capitol. We're going to take this trolley over to the Russell building which is where Cups is located."

Beca squinted at the group of people off to the side. "Is that…?"

"The Senate Majority Leader? Mhmm" Chloe answered nonchalantly, unaffected by the occurrence as they got into one of the trolley cars, soon speeding away once again. "It's the last day the House and Senate are in session before they recess to campaign before the election, so a lot is happening today" she explained.

Beca stared at Chloe, baffled. "So you're telling me a body with an eleven percent approval rating is taking three weeks off from their jobs, where they accomplish very little to begin with, to convince the American public that they should be kept in office?"

"Pretty much."

"Makes perfect sense" Beca deadpanned, not missing a beat. They got off the trolley, Chloe directing Beca through the brick hallways before she turned into their desired destination.

"So sandwiches are ordered there, there's a hot foods bar over there, and then you can order any drinks over at this counter" Chloe instructed, pointing out the various locations within the small, warm coffee shop. After ordering and receiving their food, Beca and Chloe found a nearby, vacant table to sit at.

"How many meetings do you have to go to this afternoon?" Chloe asked Beca.

"Three" Beca answered unenthusiastically, "It really wouldn't be so bad if we weren't talking about the same things with every office. It's pretty interesting to see the government relation side of radio though."

"I see" Chloe took a sip of her vanilla chai latte. "That's neat that you get to see various aspects within your internship."

Beca shrugged. "It's not so bad. I prefer the music portion of it, obviously, but it's making it a more of a rounded experience for me." They continued to eat their lunches in silence.

"Can I say something?" Beca asked a few minutes later, the issue being on her mind for some time now.

"Yes, absolutely" Chloe answered without hesitation.

Beca paused, attempting to determine the precise wording of what she was about to say. "I'm really sorry for what happened between us."

Chloe's eyes locked with Beca's. "I really appreciate you saying that."

"I just don't think-"

"Is it just me or is there something going on between Aubrey and Jesse?" Chloe cut Beca off, changing the subject. Beca examined Chloe's face, it being evident that bringing up and rehashing the past was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment.

"I guess that depends on what you know" Beca said slowly.

Chloe shrugged, taking a bite out of her sandwich. "Aubrey's fairly hush-hush about that sort of thing, but I'm catching onto the subtext she's throwing out there about him."

"Sounds about right," Beca considered what Chloe had said, "Jesse totally has a thing for her but he's completely intimidated" She admitted.

"What I'm hearing is we should facilitate by playing matchmaker" Chloe replied.

"That is most definitely not what I am saying, at all" Beca corrected, "But I suppose including him on our Friday escapades wouldn't hurt. Maybe I'll even suck it up and endure a movie night or two at the apartment."

Chloe beamed pure happiness at the suggestion. "I think that's reasonable and not too meddlesome." She looked at her watch, noting the time. "I should probably get back to the office soon. Where is your next meeting?"

"Uh, Dirksen" Beca answered as she looked at her phone, not realizing the amount of time that had passed. "Which is in ten minutes." They gathered up their trash, beverages in hand as Chloe walked Beca over to the location of her next meeting that would begin shortly.

"I'll see you at the apartment later, ok?" Chloe gave Beca a soft smile. "Thanks for thinking of having lunch with me while you were here."

"No problem," Beca replied, "Try not to break any more pencils over constituent conversations." Chloe shot her a dirty look, making her chuckle softly, the redhead walking back to her office in the adjoining building.

* * *

It was the last night of winter break and Chloe still hadn't heard from Beca. She was fairly certain she was returning home that afternoon, thus definitely able to communicate with her. Chloe sat at her computer desk in her bedroom, typing up a review for the History exam she had later that week while chatting on AIM with Aubrey and Stacie. Her temper began to flare when she noticed that Beca had updated her away message, still not a single word said to her. It was petty, she knew this; she learned not much later that Beca had been talking to Aubrey about their History test, and this is really when she became frustrated. She was about to send Beca a slightly passive-aggressive text message, when her phone began to buzz, receiving a message from Beca.

"_Can we talk?"_ the message read.

"_Sure."_ Chloe replied back, putting her phone down on her desk before it buzzed once again.

"_Great. I'll be there in 20."_

_Shit,_ Chloe thought to herself, operating under the impression that Beca would be calling her instead of coming over to her house. She quickly cleaned up her room, throwing clothes into her closet and hamper, taking her hair out of the messy bun it was currently in. _Wait, this is Beca, Chloe. Since when did it matter what you looked like?_ She thought to herself, immediately putting her hair back up and choosing not to change out of her gray St. Bernadette sweatpants and blue Henley. Chloe wandered downstairs as she heard a car door slam shut in her driveway, her mother opening the door revealing Beca on their front porch.

"Beca, what a pleasant surprise" Mrs. Beale said as Beca walked in, looking over at her daughter, having no indication that one of her friends was stopping over.

"Hi Mrs. Beale, I'm sorry to be coming here unannounced. My email wasn't working and Chloe was trying to send me her review for our History exam, so I figured I would stop by to get ahead on studying tonight" Beca explained smoothly, evident to only Chloe that she was blatantly lying.

"Oh, that's fine dear. It is a school night though…"

"Mom" Chloe began-

"My dad is going to pick me up in an hour; he's running some errands, this was on the way over" Beca clarified, taking her shoes off and hanging her coat on the coat rack to the side. She looked over at Chloe expectantly, waiting for her to say something.

"Why don't you come upstairs to get that study guide" Chloe finally said, turning as she walked up the stairs and down the hall towards her room, Beca following closely behind. Chloe closed her bedroom door shut, walking over and sitting at the edge of her bed, Beca suddenly taking an interest in the various photographs adorned along the walls of the room.

"How was your trip?" Chloe asked finally.

"Good" Beca's back was still turned to Chloe as she replied to her.

"Great" Chloe was starting to wonder why Beca had even wanted to talk to her in the first place. A few minutes later, Beca turned around, facing Chloe.

"So," Beca began, grasping her hands behind her back as she spoke. Chloe looked up in anticipation of what Beca was about to say next, the brunette opening her mouth to continue as her eyes met Chloe's, pupils of both pairs of eyes dilated. Beca strode over to Chloe suddenly, cupping her hands around her face as she kissed her urgently, a moan escaping from Chloe's mouth. Chloe grabbed Beca's waist, sliding off her bed as she pushed Beca forcefully against the wall.

"Is everything ok up there?" Mrs. Beale called from downstairs.

"Yep" Chloe called quickly as Beca planted open mouthed kisses along her jaw and collarbone, the ability to string words into a sentence completely erased from her mind. "I just…dropped…the printer."

"The printer?" Beca smirked, a glint in her eyes she had never seen before.

"Shut up, Mitchell" she muttered, their lips meeting again, Chloe's hands traveling to the bottom of Beca's shirt, pulling it over her head.

_So much for talking._

**A/N: Song lyrics are from "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service. **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Ok, I made some revisions to this. I appreciate everyone pointing out that what I put out there last night wasn't my best work. I'm glad everyone cares about this story and wants justice done to it.**

_Things change so fast, so fast. We gotta slow down. Breathe in, breathe out._

The following Saturday morning, Aubrey and Chloe were out for a run spanning the length of the National Mall, something they had been trying to do regularly but often did not, choosing sleep over fitness countless times. Given that is was towards the end of October and DC was no longer constantly a humid swamp town, the girls were more likely to be willing to run, even if it meant sacrificing one of their only two days to sleep in.

"So what did Beca say exactly?" Aubrey asked Chloe as they came to a stop on their return back to the apartment for a brief water break. Chloe had told Aubrey about having lunch with Beca earlier that week, but was not able to reveal any details to her best friend until now.

"She just apologized for what happened between us in high school. And I think she started to explain herself, but I cut her off before she could say anything else" Chloe admitted.

"Why would you do that? You should be listening to what she has to say regarding her wrongness, especially if she's willing to own up to that" Aubrey pointed out, stretching her arms over her head.

Chloe stared at the blonde, "The past is not something I'm trying to think about and bring up and have it affect my life" she explained. "Things are just fine the way they currently are. If I start thinking about it, I'm just going to get upset."

"Fair enough" Aubrey replied, beginning to jog once again. Chloe began up again as well, catching up with her.

"I can tell you have something to say so you might as well say it." Aubrey glanced over at Chloe, who was looking expectantly at her.

She considered what she wanted to say to her best friend. "Public health is about prevention, right? People get flu shots so they don't get the flu in the winter, and people eat healthy and exercise to prevent themselves from developing things like heart disease and high cholesterol. Doing those things saves a lot of trouble long-term when you're not on 6 different medications at the age of 30 and have the stamina of a 60 year old. Consider confronting your history with Beca as a preventative measure for a lot of other issues you're going to come across long-term if you don't."

Chloe knew two things; that Aubrey always chose her words carefully, and that she knew Chloe very well. "And why would the long-term matter with Beca exactly? One bacon cheeseburger and an order of fries aren't going to kill me by any means."

"I just don't think ignoring what happened in high school is really going to do any good for you. The past finds its ways of catching up to us, Chloe, whether it be tomorrow or a year from now. Who knows what is going to happen with you and Beca between now and the end of the semester, much less after that, but wouldn't you rather ensure that you're in the best condition possible in order to prevent the possibility of anything detrimental happening?" Aubrey posed to Chloe.

Chloe stared at her best friend as she absorbed what she was saying, stopping a few blocks from their apartment. "I'm not going to over think this, Bree. I'm taking it one day at a time here. Also, I'm starving with all this talk about food." They two jogged the remaining distance to the apartment in silence. Entering the apartment, they found Beca and Jesse talking around the kitchen island.

"Hey guys!" Jesse said warmly, smiling at Aubrey and Chloe, "I brought bagels!"

"Oh my gosh, that's so nice of you!" Chloe exclaimed, immediately opening the paper bag to examine the selection.

Aubrey stood, frozen and tight-lipped as she took in the situation. "What brings you over here bright and early?" She swore she saw Beca smirk at the remark before sipping from her coffee mug.

"Are we not going to the White House Garden Tour today?" Jesse asked, confused by Aubrey's reaction. The White House opened to the public the doors to its grounds, allowing crowds of people to see various points of interest, such as the Rose Garden and the South Lawn overlooking the Washington Monument from afar. Aubrey, having interned at the very location of these tours, was able to bring any friends with her that she pleased.

"Yes, yes we are. I thought you would be meeting us there is all." Aubrey lied easily. "Would you excuse us for a minute?" she dragged Chloe, bagel in hand, into their room, closing the door behind them. Jesse looked at Beca, eyebrows raised, demanding an explanation.

"What the hell was that!" he whispered, gesturing over towards Aubrey and Chloe's room. "She didn't know I was coming?"

"I may have left that out accidentally" Beca admitted quietly, scratching the back of her head. "She said Chloe and I could bring whoever we wanted to this, chill out."

"Collusion!" Aubrey exasperated as she walked the length of her bedroom, Chloe leaning against the door.

"I don't even know what you're talking about right now" Chloe said innocently, a small smile on her face as she stared up at the ceiling.

"I strongly dislike you at the moment. I'm sure Mitchell had something to do with this too."

"Come on Bree, you weren't going to do anything about this so I figured I'd be the catalyst to this inevitable reaction."

"For the record, if I do vomit today, it's going to be from that nauseating analogy you just threw at me" Aubrey stated. "Remember what I said about prevention? You don't do things that will hurt you long-term- especially when there's a ticking clock over your head reminding you about the impermanence of a particular situation."

"I'm sorry, Bree. I figured we would just make the best of this semester. With all the work you put into your internship, you deserve to have some fun and spend time with people whose company you enjoy. Especially if it involves your meddlesome friends and the boy she may or may not think is cute" Chloe apologized as she considered Aubrey's point. "I knew letting you read the draft of my research paper was somehow going to be used against me" she added quietly.

"I'm pre-law, what do you expect?" a smile crept across Aubrey's face at her good-intentioned best friend, the two walking out of their room to join Beca and Jesse once again.

"Alright, we will be leaving around noon, Chloe and I just have to shower and change before we can leave." Aubrey turned toward Beca as she continued. "I'm going to stress this again, please do not embarrass me in front of the people I work with."

"So I definitely shouldn't wear my 'Lannisters for Romney' shirt to this then, right?" Beca asked, maintaining a straight-face.

Aubrey glared at the brunette. "You're lucky I know that you're joking."

* * *

Hours later, the group of four huddled into the girl's apartment, hot drinks in hand as they dispersed throughout. They couldn't have asked for a better day to experience the majesty that is the White House grounds; countless pictures being taken around its gardens and in front of the building itself. Triumphant music played throughout from the live band over the course of the sunny afternoon, a cameo appearance even being made by the President's dog as it pranced around the yard. The entirety of the day personified happiness. After the tour had ended, they had walked across the city instead of taking the metro back to the girl's apartment, taking in the various historical sites and government buildings. Jesse, only living a few blocks away from the girls, joined them for dinner at the apartment (which Chloe was most definitely not making this time).

After changing into more comfortable clothes, Chloe joined Jesse and Aubrey in the kitchen, where the two were talking as Aubrey prepared dinner. "What are you making?" she asked.

"Mediterranean chicken pasta" Aubrey answered as she threw the empty box of penne after tossing its contents into the boiling water. "It's a very simple Posen recipe."

"Ha ha" Chloe rolled her eyes, turning to Jesse to explain the reference. "I completely disgraced her family a few weeks ago by botching their shrimp scampi recipe."

"Let me guess, you used too much garlic? I did the same thing a few years ago, didn't realize a clove was only one part of the garlic head."

"See, I'm not the only one!" Chloe pointed out to Aubrey, giving Jesse a high-five in solidarity for their common cooking errors. Aubrey simply shook her head as she continued to make dinner.

"Can you get me the feta, Chloe? I think it's on the middle shelf in the fridge" Aubrey asked from the other side of the counter.

"You two went to the same high school?" Jesse asked, taking an interest in the back of Chloe's emerald green hoodie as she turned around to get what Aubrey had asked for.

"How did you guess that, Sherlock?" Aubrey replied, raising an eyebrow toward him.

"Your name is literally on her senior class sweatshirt, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together" Jesse pointed out.

Aubrey looked over at Chloe, examining what she was wearing. "Well that makes sense."

"I bet you'll find another name you recognize on there if you look close enough" Chloe hinted, moving closer to Jesse so he could better look at the names listed on the sweatshirt.

"You went to school with Jennifer Lawrence?!" Jesse exclaimed, eyes growing wide as he grabbed the back of Chloe's sweatshirt to get a closer look.

"Oh my god, no! Same name, two completely different people. She's like a year older than us anyway" Chloe shot down Jesse's guess as Aubrey snorted at his excitement in thinking they had personally known a now famous movie star.

Jesse's grin fell at the letdown, continuing to examine the sweatshirt. "Wait… Beca?"

"Well this is an interesting sight to see" Beca announced as she walked into the kitchen after changing clothes herself, noting the sight of Jesse sitting on one of the kitchen stool's, Chloe standing with her back to him millimeters away, backside practically in his lap as his finger rested on the name he had found down one of the columns of names.

"I didn't know you all went to high school together" Jesse mentioned to Beca, Chloe turning her back away from him to face Beca.

"I didn't know that was something of interest to you" Beca replied wryly, furrowing her brow as she saw the wheels turning in his mind, putting yet another piece of the puzzle in place of figuring out why Beca wouldn't do anything about what he perceived to be her feelings for Chloe.

Jesse casually shrugged, "It's just something I didn't know" he said simply. "Do you all go to college together too?"

"I go to school up in Portland" Beca replied, shaking her head, "We said that like, the first day of class."

"So you're calling me out for not remembering something you said six weeks ago, yet on that very day you thought it was creepy I remembered your name?"

"Here I thought you had super freakish memory capabilities, my bad" Beca replied in mock defense.

"Dinner's almost ready" Aubrey announced, turning around to face the group. "If you guys could set the table that would be great." Chloe reached into the cupboards and drawers, pulling out plates and silverware, walking over to the table across from them.

"And the plot thickens" Jesse whispered to Beca as she handed him glasses and napkins for the table, a smirk across his face.

"Dude, no" Beca gave him a warning glance.

"Crap!" they heard Aubrey exclaim from behind them, turning around to see what the issue at hand was. "We don't have bread to go with this."

"There's a bakery maybe a block away from my apartment, I could run over there if you'd like" Jesse suggested.

"You would be a lifesaver" Aubrey said genuinely. Jesse smiled back at the blonde.

"Perhaps you would like to come along, Beca?" he turned toward the brunette, "Buddy system and all. Who knows what could happen to me if I walk alone."

Beca rolled her eyes, grabbing her coat as she walked out of the apartment with Jesse. They were met with the brisk, cold air often plaguing the evenings after the sun went down, forcing them to maintain a hurried pace in order to stay warm.

"I think I'm starting to get why you won't do anything about your thing for Chloe" Jesse stated after they had walked about two blocks.

"Enlighten me" Beca said flatly, knowing he would anyway.

"Something happened between you two in high school. Was it unrequited love? Or did she steal a boyfriend of yours? A love triangle even between the two of you and Aubrey?"

"Scrape the image of that out of your mind, right now" Beca instructed, not amused at all.

Jesse laughed, rubbing the top of his head exaggeratedly for good measure at Beca's orders. "Still, something happened that's preventing you from making a move now."

"We were sort of together" Beca finally admitted, "but things got very out of control…I ended up hurting her pretty badly."

* * *

Beca and Chloe really didn't do much talking until after Beca had left Chloe's house that night, once they were both in the confines of their rooms and at their computers, unable to fully discern what the other exactly thought. Well, they had a pretty good idea what the other thought about this new, uncharted physical dynamic of their relationship given how things had gone when Beca came over saying she wanted to talk to Chloe. After almost two hours of avoiding the subject, the greater portion of time spent on Beca blaming Chloe for getting her sick and thus being miserable throughout the entirety of their trip, they finally got around to talking about what had happened between them. They ultimately concluded, as two seventeen year-old girls really only could at that point, that neither of them were opposed to letting what happened between them happen again.

Oh, did it happen again.

It happened at the college fair the junior class had gone to a few weeks after they returned from winter break; Chloe, knowing what schools she wanted to apply to already, had grown bored of walking up and down the tables and tables of school representatives and pamphlets. All she had to do was give Beca a look, _that look_, from across the convention room floor for her to begin stammering at the school representative she was currently talking to, quickly making an exit to follow Chloe into one of the bathrooms. It happened again one afternoon during school, when Chloe was making her way back to chemistry lab after getting a drink from the fountain in the hallway, Beca abruptly pulling her into an empty classroom she retreated to during her study hall (Chloe made no comment at Aubrey's strange looks as she returned several minutes past when she was expected to).And it had happened yet again when they were at Stacie's house after they had all taken the SAT's, after Chloe had volunteered to help Beca bring up the board games and cases of pop from Stacie's basement.

That's all it had been though, moments in time stolen away from the rest of the world. They had agreed they wouldn't tell anyone; it was easier that way they said. Their friends would be ok with it, they were fairly sure of that; it was the fact they didn't want every action of theirs questioned by them. Never again would they be able to be in a room alone with each other without one of them making a wise comment, and if they knew, the entire school would eventually know through the gossip mill, which they absolutely did not want happening. Their parents were a different story entirely; they were being sent to a private, Catholic school for a reason, and were pretty sure they would not be okay with their daughters being in a relationship that went completely against (outdated) Church doctrine.

The one piece of evidence weighing heavily in their favor of not telling anyone was being able to have sleepovers without sounding any alarms. They had sleepovers together before class trip, so it really didn't surprise their parents when they had them after, albeit more frequently than before.

"You seem like you're in a completely different world right now, what's going on?" Chloe had said to Beca one night, her lips pressing against her bare shoulder.

Beca turned around in her bed to face Chloe, her hand reaching to tuck a stand of hair behind Chloe's ear. "Nothing I'm fine" she said, smiling at Chloe. She reached over Chloe, grabbing a pen from her nightstand.

"What are you doing?" Chloe asked softly as Beca balanced on top of her.

"Since I really can't wear my heart on my sleeve for you, I figured you would draw one on me instead?" Beca asked hesitantly, immediately regretting what she had said. Chloe instead only beamed at her.

"I love it" she replied, taking the pen out of Beca's hand as the brunette laid down next to her, Chloe travelling down her body as she drew a small heart on Beca's hip. "My turn" she said, handing the pen back to Beca, drawing the same heart on Chloe. Beca threw the pen on the floor of her room, kissing Chloe's hipbone softly, making her way up the redhead's body before reaching her lips.

"I love you" Chloe whispered, her hands traveling up and down Beca's back.

"I love you too" Beca replied back before their lips met again, not wanting the night to end for what she was going to have to tell her the following day.

**A/N: Lyrics are from "Rivers" by Kankouran.**


	9. Chapter 9

_A moment, a love. A dream aloud. A kiss, a cry. Our rights, our wrongs._

"What do you want to do today, babe?" Chloe had asked Beca midday, standing over her mirror as she applied mascara. After going out for breakfast, the two had instead returned to Chloe's house, as the redhead had thought her mom had needed the car she had borrowed the night before. Beca was sitting at her desk waiting for the redhead to finish getting ready.

"Babe? That's a new one" Beca said, a nervous laugh escaping her. She studied the redhead closely, utterly entranced by the little things she did that she had begun to take note of in recent weeks. Like when she would absentmindedly twirl a strand of her hair between her fingers when she was nervous or worried about something, or the look she got in her eye when she was stuck on a calculus problem when they'd do homework together after school. Or the narrowing of her eyebrows coupled with the side-glance she had shown Beca when attempting (attempting being the key word for Beca, as adorable as it was) to impersonate her facial expressions. There were a lot of things Chloe did that Beca had stored in the reservoir of her mind that didn't involve tearing each other's clothes off (granted, she had quite a few of those as well), and all of these memories accumulated into a convincing case that she was way past the point of no return with any of this.

Chloe shrugged, turning around to face Beca. "It just kind of slipped out."

"I'm not complaining" Beca replied, grinning at her.

"Good." Chloe walked over to the brunette, straddling her in the desk chair she was sitting in, instantly making Beca shudder as the redhead's hands traveled under her shirt and across her abdomen.

"We should totally stay here all day" Beca murmured, softly biting the skin just under her ear.

"As convincing as a case you're presenting for that," Chloe slowly said as her lips brushed against Beca's neck, "My mom said I could have the car again, which is a rare opportunity I'd be silly not to take" she pulled away from Beca, planting a quick kiss on the tip of her nose as she removed herself from Beca's lap.

Beca groaned at the loss of contact. "Tease" she playfully replied, a smirk forming on her face.

Chloe rolled her eyes, smiling. "Come on, let's go to the mall. I kind of want to get some new music and… oh my god we can look at prom dresses!" Chloe grinned, clapping her hands together at the thought.

_Prom._ There was that word Beca wished didn't even exist. Not because she didn't want to go, she was already told, numerous times by Chloe and their friends, that not going was not an option for Beca. Beca had other reasons for wishing it hadn't been brought up, reasons for which she was putting off telling Chloe for as long as she reasonably could do so.

"Sounds great" Beca agreed, getting up from the desk chair as they walked out of Chloe's room to continue their day together.

* * *

Chloe sat cross-legged on her bed one evening, highlighter in hand, as she read article after article for her research paper due at the end of term. She had a pretty good idea of the direction she wanted to take the paper, which focused on public health and how funding towards such programs now could save exponentially more in the future, and had already written the first half of the paper (which had even been given the Posen stamp of approval). The paper itself wasn't due for months, yet Chloe found herself getting ahead, as she knew she would not get work done during the week and when she would be home for Thanksgiving. Growing tired of the silence in her room and the sound of Aubrey watching CNN in the living room, Chloe dug her earphones out of her tote bag, plugging them into her iPod as she placed the music device on shuffle. She continued to read the academic articles printed in front of her, humming along and bopping her head to the music flooding into her ears. It wasn't until an hour or so later when she froze from the song that had started to play, its opening guitar sequence sending chills down her spine, eyes growing wide as the recognition of the song hit her like a ton of bricks. She immediately hit pause on the music player resting beside her, staring at it as triggered memories washed over her that she desperately tried to push out of her mind.

Chloe wasn't even completely sure why she kept the song on her iPod for so long. She hadn't listened to it since… god, it would have been senior year of high school. No, it was much later. This was the song she had played on repeat her first semester of college as she tried to fall asleep every night, still wrecked by what had happened the year prior. She should have deleted it, she knew that; still, something kept her from doing so all these years, and so it remained. Even though the song itself was not playing, its lyrics resonated throughout.

'_If you leave me tonight, I'll wake up alone. Don't tell me I will make it on my own…'_

Chloe got up from her bed, pacing the length of the room, inhaling and exhaling deeply in order to calm herself. _It's just a song, _she told herself. _If you remember correctly, it's a song you used to like a lot before it became tainted to you. It's just a song. You're 21 years old now, I'm pretty sure you can handle listening to one song without completely breaking down. Get over it._

She returned to her bed, hesitating before she put her earphones back into her ears. She could just skip the song, she very well knew that. To Chloe, this was about more than just the song. The song stood as a gateway to memories of the past, which she refused to revisit at all costs. Chloe lived in the present, and rarely let the past get to her.

She remembered what Aubrey had said to her the other day; once she got past the fact she had used a public health metaphor as a means against her, she knew that her best friend was right. Tackling the past head-on was something she was going to have to do if she wanted things with Beca to be completely ok in the long-term. _Long term?_ She thought. _Why would the long term matter anyway?_ She tried to convince herself of this, but very well knew the answer she wasn't willing to admit just yet. Like she had said, her best friend knew her very well. _Damn you, Aubrey._

Hitting play, she let the Secondhand Serenade song and the memories affiliated with it engulf her senses. Closing her eyes, head leaning against the wall, she finally began to think about some of the things that had happened with Beca, after years of doing anything but that.

* * *

"Can I talk to you about something?" Beca had asked as they approached Chloe's car in the mall parking lot. They had just completed their mall excursion, bags in hand and prom dresses put on hold, and were to make their way back to Chloe's house before Beca's dad was to pick her up.

"Absolutely" Chloe replied automatically as she put her bags into the backseat before getting behind the wheel. She looked over at Beca next to her, who was looking down at her hands, wringing them together nervously. "What's going on?" she asked, immediately taking a tone of concern.

"So prom's coming up" Beca began, pausing as she looked at Chloe, who was hanging attentively onto every word she was saying.

"It is" Chloe replied. _There's no way she's asking me to prom. I mean, they wouldn't allow that, would they? Then again she probably wouldn't care. Oh my god she's asking me to prom._

"Yeah… I figured you would ask Tom to go with you, so I thought I would let you know that I asked Luke." She studied Chloe's face for her reaction to the news. She didn't want to bring a date to prom necessarily, but presumed since Chloe would bring someone, she might as well do the same. It would make the night pass by faster if she didn't have to watch someone else spend the evening constantly next to Chloe while she was alone and dateless.

Whatever she was actually feeling, Chloe had shown no sign of it.

"Oh. Okay" Chloe replied, her voice cracking ever so slightly as she nodded in understanding. "I hadn't asked Tom yet, but he asked me to go to his senior prom with him since his latest girlfriend just broke up with him. I'm sure he'll be able to go to ours with me." Tom was Chloe's boyfriend her first two years of high school; they broke up amicably last summer and managed to remain close friends.

"I guess it's settled then" Beca replied as Chloe started up her car, the entire car ride consumed by silence as they drove the short distance back to Chloe's house. They walked into her room, Chloe opening up the Secondhand Serenade CD she had just purchased and putting it into her CD player, pressing play as she sat on her bed, Beca standing across the room from her.

"I didn't know you still talked to him" Chloe wondered aloud minutes later. Beca had met Luke at the joint Writer's Club between St. Bernadette's and their brother school, St. Mark's, earlier that school year. While they had gotten to know each other at joint meetings and open mic nights at coffee shops, ultimately nothing had come of it, conversations fizzling out between the two right around the time Chloe had gotten into her car accident. Why was Beca all of a sudden taking an interest in him again?

"He was at the Battle of the Bands I went to last week with Stacie, and we started talking" Beca explained, shrugging. "Are you sure you're ok with this?"

"Why wouldn't I be ok with this?" Chloe asked, looking at Beca for a reason, any reason at all. Beca gave no reply, looking down at the floor from where she stood.

"We should probably stop this." Chloe stated minutes later, biting her quivering bottom lip as she inhaled deeply to steady herself.

Beca looked up at her. "Is that really necessary?"

Chloe's head shot up quickly, looking over at Beca. "How would you feel if Luke was fucking his best friend?" she asked hotly.

"It's just prom" Beca reasoned, "It's not a big deal."

"Why would you even ask someone in the first place, much less not even tell me before you did?" Chloe asked, staring at Beca intensely.

"I didn't know that I needed your permission" Beca countered, "It's not like you're my girlfriend or anything. We both said we didn't want that."

Chloe grew frustrated, her hands thrown up in the air as she got off her bed before slapping them down to her side. "We agreed not to tell anyone, there's a difference. Yes I'm not your girlfriend, but if you haven't noticed, I'm completely in love with you." Chloe's hand covered her mouth as the realization of what she just said hit her.

In retrospect, Chloe would conclude that she had known this for some time. The signs of it were there for her to see; such an admission shouldn't have been a surprise to her at all. It was saying it out loud that made it real and scared the crap out of her.

Going to an all girls school irrefutably meant that bonds were formed between the girls attending that otherwise likely wouldn't have been forged at a co-ed school. Whether such a bond derived from being able to, without shame, ask if anyone had a tampon in the middle of class, or from St. Bernadette's long history of freshwomen entering as strangers and leaving as family as they walked across the graduation stage four years later, its precise origins were completely unknown. Even Beca had surprised herself with reciting 'I love you' to her friends occasionally; these girls genuinely had a special place in their hearts for each other and felt justified in needing to express it. Such was the case when Beca created the winning song mix for the karaoke competition during school spirit week and Aubrey had said it to her; or when Chloe had said it to Amy when she surprised the redhead with her favorite coffee order one morning.

What Beca and Chloe failed to do in the midst of their trysts was recalibrate the meaning of the phrase for each other. Red flags should have waved in at least one of their minds when they couldn't even talk to each other in person about their kiss on class trip; saying via instant message that they weren't opposed to it happening again was entirely different than saying they had felt something when their lips first touched, unlike anything they had felt before. This they kept to themselves however, and thus they became two editions of the same book, being on completely different pages as the other, yet the overall content remaining more or less the same. So when they said 'I love you' to one another the previous night, neither had thought much of it. It was what they were supposed to say to one another; they had before as friends, why would that change now that they were hooking up?

To say Beca and Chloe had communication problems would be an understatement.

Still, Chloe knew this much; what she had blurted out to Beca had an entirely different meaning than the three words instinctively spoken in the past.

This… oh this admission diverged entirely from all they had known.

Beca stared at Chloe, unable to move or say anything for several minutes. _I definitely fucked this up_._ You shouldn't have automatically assumed that she was going to bring Tom without talking to her about it first and assuming you're on the same wavelength with each other. Just take it all back, tell Luke you changed your mind and you want to go to prom with your friends alone, tell her that you're in love with her too. _Beca's phone began to buzz, interrupting her train of thought before she could say any of that to Chloe.

"My dad's here" she announced, reading the text message she had just received.

"Well then I guess you should go" Chloe stated, eyes trained on Beca. Beca met Chloe's stare for a minute, neither of them saying anything to the other.

_God, just say something to her._ "Yeah, I guess I should."

_Well, not that._

Beca made her way over to the door, pausing where she was before opening the door, looking back at Chloe in case she had anything else to say. Their eyes met briefly for a moment before Chloe walked over to her desk, sitting down at her computer. Beca sighed quietly before opening the door, slipping out of the room before closing the door behind her as she stood in the hallway. She paused in front of the closed door, swearing she heard Chloe begin to cry.

_Go back in there. _Another step towards the stairs. _Go in there and apologize for ruining everything. _ Beca was halfway down the stairs as she looked back up at the top of the landing, the urge to run back up to Chloe's room creeping up on her. _Just go in there and hold her at least, you cowardly asshole. _ She approached the front door of the Beale home, pulling the door open as she walked down the driveway towards her father's car. _Dammit Mitchell._

She stayed silent throughout the ride home, except for the small talk her father had made with her. She felt numb, she felt sick to her stomach for what she did. She had never wanted to hurt her and make her cry; fear from what Chloe had declared got in the way of avoiding that. It wasn't until that point she realized what a dangerous game it was they were playing with one another, to be two things to each other- friends and something more. She wasn't quite sure which they even were at this point, not even considering it was in fact possible to be both if done right.

* * *

Chloe took out her earphones, no longer even listening to the song she had started with, her hands rubbing her eyes as she opened them again. She noticed that she had been crying as she felt her damp eyelashes, reaching over to her dresser for a tissue. She wiped her eyes and cheeks dry as she considered the memories still fresh in her mind. _Good to know I truly haven't forgotten anything. _She looked over at her phone, noticing she had been lost in her own thoughts for well over an hour's time, a text from Aubrey saying she had gone to grab dessert with Jesse.

The past had affected her more than she would have liked to admit. She precisely recalled the feeling in the pit of her stomach when she had let it slip she was in love with Beca. She recalled an even stronger urge to be sick when Beca hadn't said the same. She remembered crying the rest of the night in her room, 'Stay Close, Don't Go' playing on loop.

'_I'm not the only one for you, but you're the only one for me.'_

She shuddered, snapping herself out of the darkness hanging over her head as she revisited these memories. How many more would she have to return to before she would fully be able to come to terms with the past and not break down at the very thought of them?

She knew she was balancing on a fine line with thinking about the past, knowing all too well that it could consume her completely if she wasn't careful. She also knew that being an adult, she had the ability to think about these things and not be completely ruined in the process. Most importantly, she knew she had to keep it together in front of everyone, especially Beca. She knew she couldn't randomly snap at her for how she had made her feel some five years ago now; that would be immature. Things were going so well between them currently; she wasn't going to let their history shape their current friendship and harm it in any way. She had to keep it together, for the moment at least she reasoned. She would be able to talk about all of this with Beca eventually.

She walked out of her bedroom, the craving for a mug of steaming hot chocolate propelling her towards the kitchen.

"You alright?" Beca asked from the living room couch, taking note of Chloe's red eyes.

_Crap,_ Chloe thought. Turning around to face Beca, she replied "Other than feeling like my eyes are going to fall out from reading 100 pages worth of scholarly articles, I'm spectacular."Beca chuckled, dropping the subject as Chloe walked into the kitchen, filling the teapot and lighting the stove to heat the water. Minutes later, she walked back towards her room, Beca still sitting on the couch watching television.

"What are you watching?" Chloe asked, standing behind the couch as she surveyed the television, the channel currently displaying a commercial for fabric softener.

"_American Horror Story_" Beca replied, looking over at her. "I haven't been able to watch the new season yet, and they have the first two episodes of _Asylum _on tonight, so I figured I would catch up."

"Oh okay" Chloe replied, sitting down at the other end of the couch, resting her mug on the coffee table in front of them.

"You watch _American Horror Story?"_ Beca asked suspiciously.

"I watched the first season on Netflix, wanted to see what the fuss was about" Chloe explained, tucking her knees under her. "You can't go wrong with Evan Peters. Or Sarah Paulson" she added.

"There it is" Beca smirked as Chloe's reasoning hit her. "I had a feeling your fangirl-like tendencies had something to do with it."

"Excuse me?" Chloe asked, surprised at what Beca had said.

"If I remember correctly, you became pretty enamored with Miss Paulson after watching all of _Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip_ at the beginning of senior year" Beca pointed out.

"Blame Aaron Sorkin" Chloe retorted, "I'm surprised you remember that."

"There's a lot I remember" Beca said softly, her eyes meeting Chloe's. They stared at one another for some time before the opening credits of the show played across the tv, their attention snapping away from each other and to the program. They hadn't said much to the other as the show played, briefly discussing the plot being introduced to them every now and then.

"Holy crap!" Chloe exclaimed as one of the grotesque monsters revealed itself in one of the final scenes of the episode. She jumped from where she sat, instinctively grasping on to what was near her; in this case, Beca. The brunette looked toward Chloe, then down at redhead's hand grasping her own tightly. Chloe, realizing what she had done, looked down at her hand clasped with Beca's as well, immediately pulling away as she returned her hand to her own lap.

"Sorry" she said quickly, feeling her neck growing hot.

"It's ok" Beca replied shortly, not even completely sure what had just happened. They sat on the couch in silence for many minutes, not paying attention to the next episode whatsoever.

"I should go to bed" Chloe got up suddenly from the couch, walking across the length of the living room and over to her room, closing the door shut behind her.

"Okay then" Beca mused to herself quietly, trying to figure out what emotion was currently overtaking her as she sat alone in the living room with her thoughts.

**A/N: Lyrics are from "Sweet Disposition" by The Temper Trap.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Thank-you once again to everyone that is reading and reviewing—I really do appreciate the comments and feedback that I am getting from all of you. Just a quick note on the flashbacks—I've ultimately decided not to explicitly label them as flashbacks/X years ago/present, etc- I think within the first few sentences of the beginning of each section it's pretty obvious which Chloe and Beca you're reading about. I feel like I'd be doing an injustice if I didn't keep everyone on their toes just a little bit :) **** If you're paying attention, the cues to a passage taking place in either the past or present should be there early on, as well as throughout that section.**

**I'm sure most of you have noticed this, but there is also no set format for each chapter that I've committed to. When the story began, we were exclusively dealing with the present, and then flashbacks were weaved into upcoming chapters. Looking forward, some chapters coming up will end up being entirely in the present once again, as Beca and Chloe's backstory will eventually be revealed in full. While most chapters start with the present storyline, some do start with flashbacks. To quote the great Alastor Moody, "Constant Vigilance!"**

**Ok, I'm done rambling, here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it!**

_Tell my love to wreck it all. Cut out all the ropes and let me fall._

"I don't understand why we even decided to bring dates with us" Aubrey huffed, zipping the back of Chloe's strapless cerulean blue prom dress up for her. After getting their hair done together that afternoon, Chloe and Aubrey had gone back to the blonde's house to finish getting ready before their group of friends met at Stacie's house to take pictures together before departing for prom that evening. "You end up having them follow you everywhere all night, and some of the stand around awkwardly as we dance with each other."

"Bree you're making it sound like we're babysitting them for the night" Chloe giggled, adjusting her cleavage comfortably inside her dress. "And speak for yourself, Tom loves to dance."

"Oh, Jordan does too, I wouldn't have asked him if he was just going to sulk around and not participate." Aubrey looked into her floor-length mirror, adjusting one of the straps of her pale pink gown.

Chloe gave Aubrey a strange look. "I thought you were taking…?"

Aubrey stared at Chloe, as if she hadn't had this conversation with her before. "Uni is Jordan!" she exclaimed, "Jeez, he rides around the stage on a unicycle once during a swing choir concert and it sticks with him forever."

"I knew that, sorry" Chloe shook her head, applying another layer of hairspray to her cascading updo for good measure, stray strands softly falling to each side of her face. "Just a little preoccupied right now."

"It wouldn't have anything to do with a small, brooding brunette, now would it?" Aubrey asked, turning around to face Chloe. Beca was originally to get ready for prom with Chloe and Aubrey, but had backed out, saying that she would just meet them at Stacie's house. Over the last few weeks, she had noticed that Beca had become more withdrawn, spending less time around Chloe, which consequently meant less time around Aubrey.

Chloe stared at Aubrey as she clasped her necklace secure around herself. "Why would I be affected by Beca that much?" a defensive tone was hidden in her voice, which did not go undetected by her best friend.

Aubrey shrugged, not wanting to push the redhead into something she didn't yet want to talk about. "She didn't show up for any of our AP US study sessions the few weeks before the exam. She really hasn't been at anything you or I have also been at within the last month, now that I'm thinking about it."

"She was taking the May SATs, it could be due to that" Chloe suggested, "And I know she had to do a research paper for Mrs. Graham's class, which thank god we weren't required to do. And we really haven't had much time to all hang out over the last month anyway with how crazy school has been." Chloe wasn't ready to reveal to Aubrey what had happened between her and Beca, not yet at least.

Chloe and Beca had kept their distance from one another the first two weeks or so after their fight, which conveniently fell around the final weeks before their Advanced Placement exams were scheduled. Things were currently shaky at best between them, but Chloe decided ultimately to push her own feelings aside, even occasionally making small talk with Beca. The brunette, Chloe had learned, had hung out with Luke a few times since she asked him to prom. Chloe tried her best not to dwell on analyzing why Beca would be doing this. The school year was almost over, and they would have the summer for things to settle down. Equilibrium would be reached and awkwardness would be lost eventually, she reasoned; she just needed to wait it out.

"Yeah, you're right" Aubrey mused as she took in the information Chloe presented as she looked through her makeup bag.

"Damn straight" Chloe winked at the blonde, who rolled her eyes good-naturedly at the redhead's actions.

"Alright, the guys should be here soon" Aubrey said, looking at her phone. "We'll have my mom take a few pictures of us, then we can go over to Stacie's and have pictures taken with everyone."

"Sounds good to me" Chloe replied. The girls finished putting on their makeup before grabbing their needed belongings for the evening, walking down to Aubrey's family room to wait for their dates.

"I really hope Bumper is on his best behavior tonight" Aubrey wondered aloud, cringing at the thought of enduring an evening with the obnoxious St. Mark's swing choir captain.

"Amy really likes him" Chloe pointed out, "To each their own." She contemplated the phrase as she saw Tom and Unicycle walk up to Aubrey's front door, thinking about her feelings for Beca.

* * *

To be quite frank, Beca was on the verge of losing her mind. A few days had passed since she had watched _American Horror Story_ with Chloe, since Chloe had held (well, grabbed and squeezed the life out of it would be a better term) Beca's hand for maybe five seconds, if that. Chloe had abruptly left the living room after this, for reasons Beca couldn't completely figure out and process. _It's not like I was the one that held onto her hand,_ Beca thought. _She's the one that constantly invades other's personal space without any thought to it at all, why did this single instance freak her out so much? _

Beca thought about this as she sipped on her drink at the bar of the 9:30 Club before a concert she was covering as part of her internship. She thought about that jolt that ran through her hand, up her arm and dispersing throughout the rest of her body when Chloe's hand touched her own. She hadn't felt that since…well, the last time she and Chloe had been together. She didn't know it was possible to have that feeling again, god knows she tried to replicate it with others less important to her. Hell, she had felt more from inadvertent contact with Chloe than from what she had deliberately made happen in the beds of experiences past.

"Hey weirdo" Jesse snuck up behind her noting his presence at the concert venue, making her jump in her seat. "On edge much?" he took the seat beside her, laughing to himself at her reaction.

Beca glared at him as she calmed herself down from Jesse's ultimately good-natured scare. "Just a lot on my mind" she muttered, turning her attention back toward her rum and Coke.

Jesse received his beer from the bartender, swiveling around on the barstool to face Beca. "Too much lady love preoccupying the girl with the amazingly scary ear spike?"

"Dude, why do you even say things like that? Just no" she shot back at him a little too harshly than she had intended to. Jesse appeared to take no notice of this, or at least didn't seem taken aback by it whatsoever.

"I'm your trusty sidekick with boyish good looks and comic relief to spread all around, what do you expect?"

"You watch too many movies" Beca grumbled.

"I make no apologies for that" he swore solemnly. "But really Beca, I may not have known you for that long, but I can tell something's bothering you."

Beca looked up at him, knowing that Jesse meant well and always would. As much as she didn't like to rely on and confide in others, she knew that she could trust Jesse, and felt comfortable talking to him about what was troubling her. "It's Chloe… I… she kind of held my hand the other night. Accidentally. And she rushed out of the room right after," Beca shrugged, "I just don't know what to make of it, like at all."

Jesse considered what Beca had told him. "How does one exactly one hold someone's hand by accident?"

"We were catching up on _Asylum_ and she got spooked I guess" Beca replied, shrugging.

"Player, player" Jesse smirked, "Did you know when you watch horror movies your brain releases chemicals that can make you more attracted to someone? I assume that would also happen with a television show." Beca shot another glare at Jesse, unamused. "Had to be said. Okay, really though, do you think she might have feelings for you?"

"I doubt it honestly" Beca admitted, "We've become pretty good friends over the last few months, but Chloe's always been good at making friends. And I doubt she's forgotten about how I screwed everything up before."

"People can be willing to overlook the bad if they really have a connection with someone. Or at least are willing to work on making something work, if doing so is a viable option and whatever you did isn't completely irreparable."

"Thanks, I guess?" Beca said questioningly. "She did accept my apology a few weeks ago. I wanted to explain myself more but she wouldn't let me talk about what happened at all."

"Maybe she's not ready to hear or talk about the past. The best thing you can do is give her space and not rush anything." Jesse replied.

"Believe me, I know that" Beca assured him. "I'm not pushing anything whatsoever. I'm still not over the fact that we're friends again, never thought that would have happened."

"Life takes us by surprise sometimes," Jesse pointed out. "How has she been around you since?"

Beca finished off her drink, placing the empty glass on the counter as she thought about what Jesse had asked. "Fine, I guess. I really don't think much has changed since. It's not like she's avoiding me." While Beca may have experienced some slight awkwardness the following morning with Chloe when they ran into one another in the bathroom whilst getting ready for work, ultimately nothing had changed between them. Not that Beca had expected a change for the worse after Chloe's abrupt departure from the living room; she just didn't completely know what to expect with Chloe anymore.

"That's a plus," Jesse nodded, "But honestly, something might very well be there. I don't know Chloe that well, but someone who didn't feel anything after an even completely innocent hand grab wouldn't have just left the room like that. That's just my take though…Which should be taken with a grain of salt, as should be the case with everything I say."

Beca smiled, rolling her eyes at her friend. "I really appreciate you listening to me and helping me out with this. It does mean a lot to me."

"It's the least I can do" Jesse said sincerely. "When is the first opening band starting?"

Beca checked her phone for the time. "Soon," she answered, "We should probably get closer to the stage." They got up from their seats, and walked into the crowd of people gathering near the front of the stage. The house music was still playing throughout the venue, the current track, as Beca listened to it closely, recognizing it as a song that had played the night of her junior year prom.

* * *

Beca was glad she had set her expectations low for the night of prom; it made it that much easier for those expectations to be exceeded. Stacie's pre-prom get-together had gone smoothly, and the limousine bus had arrived on time. Beca felt a pang of guilt for not being around Chloe for much of the night, but knew she had no right to sit next to her. They had hardly spoken to one another since their fight; while Beca knew she should have said something to mend things between them, she had not, and the subject of them remained untouched. She also reasoned that Chloe had made no attempt to talk to Beca either, and thus functioned under the assumption that Chloe had gotten over her and began to move on.

Luke had been nothing short of a perfect date, from renting a tuxedo and purchasing a corsage that actually matched her dark purple dress, to making conversation with all of her friends and their dates as well. Stacie had even said with a wink, as they stood in line for the buffet-style dinner, that she immensely approved of him. Luke had a lot in common with her, from writing, which she dabbled in, to her greater passion, music; they got along well with one another. Being with someone like Luke made a lot of sense on paper. Maybe if she told herself that enough times she would start to believe it.

She still had lingering feelings for Chloe, she knew that much. She hated how things currently were between them, and knew the brunt of it rested on her shoulders. She knew she had no right to get angry when Tom had officially agreed to go with her to prom, but couldn't help but feel that way. Things remained civil between her and Chloe, which shouldn't have been a surprise to her at all since Chloe was genuinely the nicest person she knew. She didn't want to ever get to a point where Chloe was no longer that way toward her.

Dessert was finished, the tables cleared, and the hired DJ had begun playing music for the juniors and seniors of St. Bernadette's to dance to, whether it be with their friends or their dates. Teachers took on the role of chaperones, patrolling the dance floor to ensure there was room for the Holy Ghost, grinding between couples coming straight to a halt whenever an adult was near. Beca and Luke had returned to their table after a song or two, beverages in hand as they surveyed their peers in amusement.

"Are you having fun?" Luke asked her, hanging his suit jacket over the chair before loosening his regal purple bowtie that matched his vest.

"I feel like I should be asking you that" Beca quipped, "You're my guest and all."

"But it is your prom" he pointed out, rolling up the sleeves of his white button down shirt, "I couldn't possibly live with myself if you didn't have a good time tonight because of me."

"I don't think that's possible" she replied laughing, "But I will absolutely let you know every single wrong move you make that may or may not contribute to that."

"Sounds reasonable enough" he considered

"And there's strike one" Beca announced unenthused.

"Pardon?" Luke asked, confused.

"You shouldn't agree with me so much just for the sake of being polite. It gets boring" she pointed out. The tempo of the music dropped considerably from the bass-booming song that had previously played. Beca recognized it as "Iris" by The Goo Goo Dolls.

"Do you want to dance?" Luke asked, turning in his chair, his body facing toward her.

Beca shook her head. "No thanks" she replied. While she was okay with the fast dancing she would be doing tonight, slow dancing was an entirely different realm to her. She blamed it on the closeness of a different kind between yourself and the one you're dancing with than the proximity of often being back to front with whomever you happened to be dancing with.

Luke stood up, holding out his hand. "Absolutely not. And yes this is me disagreeing with you" he leaned over and whispered in her ear. Not being able to possibly argue with that (he was humoring her, she knew that) Beca obliged, taking his hand as they walked over to the dance floor together, putting her hands around his neck as he held her waist. It didn't long for Beca to notice that Stacie and her date were a few couples over from them, an exaggerated thumbs up being sent in Beca's direction from the taller brunette.

"You good?" Luke asked her, noticing the smirk that had formed on her face.

"Couldn't be better" she insisted as he drew her closer. It wasn't until that moment she also noticed Chloe and Tom not far away from where she and Luke were.

"You're distracted by something" Tom said to Chloe, the two no fifteen feet away from Beca and Luke. Chloe's eyes snapped away from the shorter brunette, looking up to meet Tom's eyes, blushing. "I know we're not together, but checking out another guy when I'm right here?" he joked, a grin on his face as Chloe laughed.

"Not exactly" she admitted. Tom knew her well, she had to give him that. It was really no surprise to her, they had dated for almost two years. He knew her almost as well as Aubrey, but in different respects.

"A girl then?" he asked quietly, drawing back to properly look at her for her response. Chloe nodded ever so slightly, as though anything more would have been greater of an admission than she was currently ok with. He pulled her back towards him once again, holding her tightly as one of his hands ran soothingly up and down her back.

"I have to say Chlo, I would have given anything for you to have looked at me like that when we were together" he admitted, speaking quietly into her ear, "Hell, even just one look like that. It's Beca, right?"

"That obvious?" she asked.

Tom smiled, rolling his eyes. "Not at all. There was just this moment in the limo on the way over here… she was taking a picture with Amy… you were just entranced, even just for that second in time. I feel like you doubt the fact I know you well and I don't like it, Beale" he winked, making her laugh once again. "I don't know what the situation is, but I hope she has better taste in girls than guys."

"What makes you say that?" Chloe asked inquisitively as Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" began.

"I don't know, I just never got a good vibe from that kid" he replied, referring to Luke.

"You don't get a good vibe from anyone who isn't on St. Mark's baseball and soccer teams" Chloe jested, making a face at him.

"Very funny" he assured before continuing, "Dude's very cocky. He just screams d-bag to me. It has to be the choker he wears every day at school. Who does he think he is, Ryan Atwood?"

"Can't believe you remember that" Chloe reminisced about making Tom watch _The OC_ with her countless times, thinking he hadn't paid much attention to the show.

"Hey, I was a very good boyfriend" Tom pointed out.

"You were." The song came to an end, Chloe and Tom parting from one another as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "You're an even better friend to me. I'll have to keep an eye out for Beca. I appreciate the head's up." Chloe knew she didn't owe anything to Beca, much less warning her about a potential romantic interest. That was the thing about Chloe; more often than not, she rose above everything and was the bigger person who pushed her own feelings aside.

Aubrey and Unicycle walked up next to Chloe and Tom as they stood at the edge of the dance floor as their peers jumped up and down to the following, more upbeat song played by the DJ. "Why are you not tearing it up out there?" Aubrey asked Chloe and Tom.

"I have to conserve my energy, the night is still very young" Tom assured the blonde. Chloe's mind was elsewhere, watching Luke and Beca leave the dance floor together, Luke making his way over to the bar, and Beca walking further away to where Chloe assumed the bathroom was located.

"I'm parched; does anyone want anything to drink?" Chloe asked the group. Shaking their heads in reply, Chloe walked over to the bar, Luke leaning against the end of it waiting for whatever drinks he had ordered.

"Hey" Chloe said as he approached him. Luke's attention turned away from the dance floor and toward Chloe, nodding in her direction with a small smile. "Chloe, right?" Chloe nodded as the bartender took her request for a glass of water. "Beca's told me a lot about you."

"She has?" Chloe asked, confused. They had barely spoken to one another over the last month; why would Beca talk to Luke about her?"

"A while ago" Luke corrected, visualizing the timeline of the last few months in his mind. "Pretty much without fail, she'd always tell me she was with you shopping in DC, or over at your house, or would be going to hang out with you. You two must be close."

Chloe stared at him as she considered what Luke had just said. _She told me she had stopped talking to him back in December. Class trip was in February, and she hadn't been over to my house until after that point. What the hell? _"You could say that" she replied, forcing a smile. "Are you having fun tonight so far?"

Luke nodded, taking a sip out of his Coke. "Prom is great, I love going to them."

'They're a lot of fun" Chloe agreed. "So do you like her?"

Luke looked at Chloe curiously, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know" he replied, "We're just hanging out and she asked me to go to prom with her. That's about it. Did she say something?"

"No, not at all" Chloe replied quickly. "Just be thankful it was me that did this and not Aubrey. It's quite possible she would have used her dad's polygraph on you" she added, yielding a nervous laugh from Luke.

"Thank god for that. Do you know where Beca went, I thought she went to look for the bathroom…." He looked across the lounge area of the hall, still no sign of the brunette.

"I'll check on her for you and send her your way. This place can be kind of confusing with how big it is." Chloe assured Luke as she left the bar, walking down the hall and over to the women's bathroom, a number of things running through her mind. She walked inside, finding Beca washing her hands.

"Luke's looking for you" Chloe said, leaning her back against the marble bathroom counter, looking over at Beca, still intent on her hand washing. "Look, I know we're not even close to being ok with each other, but I wanted to tell you that you should be careful with him. I'm not sure where he thinks things are going between you two, but he seemed kind of indifferent to me."

Beca looked up at Chloe. "Why were you talking to him about me?" she questioned, her eyes narrowing.

"I was just trying to look out for you" Chloe maintained, "Tom doesn't have a very high opinion of him and I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Ah, because Tom is the perfect guy without faults, of course he would think that" Beca sneered at what she perceived to be meddling from Chloe. Chloe stared at Beca, not believing her reaction to what she was telling her.

"I was just trying to help you" Chloe repeated steadily, "I don't know what your problem is right now."

Beca continued to stare at Chloe, not sure what to make of this at all. Here Chloe was, taking part in the longest interaction they've had with one another, alone no less, and was revealing that she had talked to her date about her, which she most certainly did not ask her to do.

"I didn't ask you to do that" Beca replied, "I was starting to think you didn't really care anymore since we've barely talked the past month."

"Are you serious?" Chloe raised her voice, not believing Beca's words. "We've talked numeros times around school. What more do you want from me? You broke my heart. Who knows, maybe you forgot about those conversations just like you forgot about all the ones you've had with Luke since class trip that you forgot to mention" Chloe spat, fuming.

"That was none of your business" Beca snapped back defensively, "Why are you talking about all of this with him? And for the record, I'm allowed to talk to whoever I decide I want to talk to."

"He's the one who brought it up! Jesus Christ, for once maybe you should consider that the things you say and do have repercussions" Chloe spat back acrimoniously. "And I was your friend! It wouldn't have been that difficult to just casually bring it up; god knows we spent enough time together. Now it just feels like you were keeping things from me" Chloe's hands went to her forehead, unable to take in and process everything she was hearing and feeling.

'So you're saying you would have been completely supportive and would have squealed like a little girl at the news I was talking to Luke again, and wouldn't have gotten jealous about it at all?" Beca raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.

"That's not fair" Chloe retorted, "When was the last time you started hooking up with your best friend and were able to keep both aspects completely separate from each other?"

Beca shook her head to herself, "None of this should have ever happened." The bathroom door squeaked open from behind them, Aubrey walking in, instantly noticing the amount of tension between her two friends by Chloe's stance and the look on Beca's face. Chloe turned around, a look mixed with relief and distress washing over her face as she saw Aubrey.

"Hey, what's up Bree?" she said as casually as she could.

"No one had any idea where either of you were!" Aubrey exclaimed. "You both missed Mrs. Graham cornering Tom, Uni and I and asking us whether or not J. Holiday's 'Bed' was an acceptable song to play tonight."

"Such a shame we missed that" Chloe noted, smiling at the scene Aubrey had painted for her as Beca scoffed at the story.

"Also, Tom has informed me that he is getting ready to show off his dance moves, and he didn't want you to miss that" Aubrey added.

"I knew there was a reason I used to date him" Chloe said sarcastically, walking past Aubrey as she opened the bathroom door, returning to the festivities, not once looking back at Beca.

Aubrey turned to Beca. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine" Beca insisted. "Just tell Luke I'll be out there in a minute." Aubrey nodded in confirmation before leaving the bathroom, Beca once again alone with her thoughts. Having things go from bad to worse with Chloe was the last thing she wanted; things had been blown completely out of proportion. She knew there was a reason she had kept her expectations low for the night.

**A/N: Lyrics are from Bon Iver's "Skinny Love."**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Alright, here we go! Once again, a big thanks to everyone who is giving me feedback and reviewing this. I'm sorry for all the angst in the previous chapter, but it's a necessary evil so I also regret nothing :) I think you'll all (hopefully) enjoy this chapter a lot more, so I'm going to shut up now so you can get on that.**

_Are you going to waste your time thinking how you've grown up, or how you missed out?_

The election was days away, the entire District of Columbia on edge as its residents, as well as the entire country, waited to cast their votes for the next leader of the free world and other offices within the various levels of government. The presidential race appeared to be neck and neck in nearly all of the conducted polls; it was the topic on everyone's tongue, whether you were waiting in line for your morning coffee and newspaper or waiting for the evening metro ride home. Washington was the place to be, the quiet energy simmering throughout the various staffers and bureaucrats; it was a unique semester to be completing internship's in the nation's capital, which was certainly known by all the interns residing there. DC was unparalleled in their festivities and celebrations for the night of the election; college campuses held gatherings for their students as election results would come in, colleagues and acquaintances would gather at their favorite watering holes to either celebrate their candidate of choice winning or drown in their sorrows over a loss.

It was really no surprise to the girls when Jesse and his housemates decided to throw a party on election night; not only would it give the classmates the opportunity to hang out with one another, they wouldn't have to worry about bumping elbows in overcrowded hot spots with people they didn't know. Aubrey, Beca, and Chloe agreed at once to help Jesse in the endeavor as soon as he mentioned it to them, taking on the task of finding suitable decorations for the evening. So the Friday before the election, the three roommates spent the afternoon traversing the greater DC area to search for anything and everything red, white, and blue. This wasn't too difficult a task, as the local party supply stores were practically overflowing with various party supplies of the very colors. The challenge in this, as Aubrey soon learned as they walked into the first store together, was handling Beca and Chloe within the store, the combination of sheer exhaustion from work and overexcitement for the party a deadly force to be reckoned with.

"Excuse me, do you need any tickets?" Chloe approached Beca as she walked around one of the displays in the store, wearing a ridiculous Uncle Sam-esque top hat while inconspicuously clutching her fleece jacket tightly around her with one hand as to not reveal what was underneath.

"I suppose that depends on the kind of show I'm going to get" Beca replied in an amused tone to the redhead.

Chloe swiftly removed her jacket to reveal an American flag vest-no shirt whatsoever underneath-that she had recently changed into, flexing her bare, toned arms. "The gun show, silly" Chloe replied, giggling at the corniness of what she had uttered, not possibly able to have resisted saying such a thing the minute she saw the very article of clothing. While Chloe may have overreacted the previous week at grabbing Beca's hand by storming out of the room, she pushed the various things she had felt in that very instance out of her mind, determined to maintain her recent friendship with Beca. On the surface, it appeared that she was succeeding at this; she and Beca were getting along with one another extremely well. Internally, however, she was fighting a two-front battle against her maintenance of the status quo; one camp telling her that she should resent Beca for what had occurred in the past, the other constantly resurfacing more-than-platonic feelings for the brunette. Such a delicate balancing act of her emotions was difficult for Chloe to keep up, and she wasn't entirely sure just how long that was going to last, fearing she would either one day spontaneously yell at Beca for all she had put her through, or have her way with her, regardless of the location. Both of these things happening one after the other was also likely to happen, Chloe reflected.

Beca shook her head, laughing as her eyes trailed down to the redhead's partially exposed midriff. "Something's telling me the Founding Fathers didn't have those in mind when they drafted the Second Amendment" she replied, poking Chloe's flexed bicep.

"Well it's a good thing that I have backup then." Chloe reached behind the display next to her, pulling out what appeared to be a toy water gun; instead of water spraying out at its intended target, Beca soon learned, the toy ejected silly string. Beca held her hands in front of her face, running away from Chloe as she chased her up and down the store's aisles. Chloe found Beca had come to a halt as she practically ran into the brunette, Aubrey in front of them, hands full of sparkly, star-shaped streamers and hanging lights.

"Tell me you're going to wear that Tuesday night" Aubrey deadpanned to Chloe as she took in her getup.

Chloe shook her head at her best friend, putting the silly string weapon down on the store floor. "I've decided if Obama wins re-election, I'm just going to strip down to my star-spangled bra for the rest of the night out of sheer celebration. Or at least until I get cold." The redhead walked toward the back of the store to change out of the vest, leaving Beca and Aubrey standing in the middle of the store together.

"And the President just won the vote of yet another undecided voter" Aubrey mused, noting Beca's fixed stare in the direction where Chloe previously stood, jaw slightly agape. The brunette snapped out of the daze at Aubrey's words, turning her attention towards her, processing what she had said.

"I'm going to look at…things. Over there" Beca gestured, making a less-than-smooth exit away from Aubrey.

Aubrey smirked as the brunette awkwardly strolled away from her. It didn't take a genius to sense the chemistry radiating between Beca and Chloe whenever they were together; if it was even possible, they were getting along better with each other now than what Aubrey recalled of their high school years. Granted, Aubrey was now aware of Beca and Chloe's history with one another, which may or may not have affected her perspective of any interactions between her two roommates. From what Aubrey could tell at least, there was definitely something there between Beca and Chloe. She knew Chloe's past with Beca was a sensitive subject to her that she still wasn't completely comfortable talking about on a whim, even to her best friend, but Chloe had admitted that she had begun starting to think about her history with Beca and how it would play a role in any present developments. Whether this meant Beca and Chloe would stay friends after they returned to their respective college campuses or what, Aubrey didn't want Chloe to get hurt yet again by Beca. Even though she was getting along quite well with the brunette currently, ultimately her guard remained high and found herself not fully trusting the brunette's motives and actions.

Chloe walked out of the dressing room moments later, making her way over to Aubrey. "Where did Beca go?"

"She wanted to look at a few more things" Aubrey gestured over to one of the corners of the store. "You two seem to be getting along with one another quite well."

Chloe surveyed her best friend, crossing her arms over her chest, well knowing that the blonde's statement was a loaded one. "Yep, we're friends. We have been for some time now with us all living together and all. I would even go so far to say that you're friends with her as well again."

"I would say that's the case as well" Aubrey acknowledged, "However, she doesn't look like she wants to jump my bones whenever she sees me."

"Bree, we've talked about this." This much was true; Chloe had revealed her confusion of the Beca situation to Aubrey, how she had felt the rawness of her adolescent broken heart, immense anger towards Beca for doing that to her, and the spark between them, all within a moment's contact. Upon hearing this, Aubrey was quite surprised Chloe hadn't combusted.

"We have" Aubrey agreed, pausing to consider her phrasing before she continued on, "And I know you're more than capable of sorting out your own feelings for someone. It's just… sometimes your brain tells you one thing, and how you actually feel about someone can be entirely different. I'm your best friend and I've known you for a while, and I know that I haven't seen you this happy since the last time we were in DC with Beca. I haven't seen you light up the way you do when she walks into a room since junior year, before you two abruptly stopped talking for reasons I am now aware of. I may have noticed these things without any thought to them then, but now that I know what happened… I would just hate for history to repeat itself."

Chloe studied the concerned look on Aubrey's face. She couldn't have asked for a better best friend, someone who looked out for her best interests and also wanted what was best for her. "Beca and I are friends and nothing more" she maintained. Deep down, however, she knew that every time she admitted that, it lost its meaning just a little bit. She didn't truly know what Beca's feelings were toward her and didn't want to assume, but she was aware that the part of her that did feel something for Beca was winning the battle inside her. She desperately tried to conceal and deny such feelings in order to protect herself from getting hurt yet again by potentially misreading anything.

Beca walked up to the pair, hands full of America-themed décor. "Are we good to go?" Beca asked, turning from Beca to Chloe.

"Considering we have enough supplies to wallpaper Jesse's entire townhouse inside and out, I'd say so" Aubrey quipped, the girls making their way over to the cash register to pay for their supplies.

"This party is going to be incredible, Bree" Chloe exclaimed, standing between Beca and Aubrey as she eyed the various items they had placed on the counter.

Aubrey turned to face Chloe, who was currently intent on picking off the stray silly string pieces on Beca's coat. "Oh, it's definitely going to be something."

* * *

Chloe couldn't believe she was actually admitting this to herself, but she couldn't wait for her senior year of high school to begin. Chloe loved the summer; the hot weather, lack of homework and exams, beach days with friends and the bonfires at night all contributing in making it her favorite season of the year. That was the case, at least, until summer vacation began for Chloe after junior year had officially ended. Chloe had these grand ideas about how the summer before her last year of high school would go; in every one of these ideas she had imagined Beca would be there with her. Now, thinking about her plans for what the summer should have been like left a sour taste in her mouth. As much as she dreaded seeing Beca everyday in school once again, at least school would keep her busy and stop herself from constantly thinking about what had happened with the brunette.

They hardly spoke to one another after the blowout that had occurred at prom, leaving their friends as confused as ever. Things had gone no better across the three-month break from school; Chloe hadn't seen much less heard from Beca at all, the exception being the back-to-school barbeque bash thrown for the to-be senior class by the underclassmen. Even then, Beca had kept her distance from Chloe that night as much as she could without it being incredibly awkward within their group of friends. The balance was thrown off among them, and the one person who detected this best was Aubrey.

Aubrey had taken note of the progression between Chloe and Beca over the past school year. It had become more likely that the three of them would hang out together instead of just Aubrey and Chloe, and Aubrey had paid no mind to this. She didn't question her friendship with Chloe, and wasn't insecure regarding their importance to one another. When she learned that Beca and Chloe began hanging out with one another alone, she also did not let this get to her, as Chloe also had made sure to also spend time with Aubrey; never was Aubrey pushed to the side or ignored as a result of the growing closeness between Beca and Chloe. What Aubrey did turn her attention to was Beca no longer meeting up with her at Chloe, and Chloe completely brushing off Aubrey's questioning of it. For months, Aubrey tried to determine what had occurred between her two friends, why Beca had suddenly withdrawn from them and was no longer attached to Chloe's hip during their shared study halls, much less why it appeared the two hardly ever talked to one another during the remaining months of the school year. Still, Aubrey remained patient, and knew that when Chloe wanted to talk to her about it, she would.

So when Chloe received her class schedule the week before school would begin, she panicked, well remembering making her schedule with Aubrey and Beca, and well remembering she had forced Beca to take similar classes and electives with her so they would have more than one class with each other. The girls had made their class schedules well before the proverbial shit hit the proverbial fan of all things her and Beca; Chloe actually found herself laughing at the irony of it all as she dialed Aubrey's phone number.

"You got your class schedule?" the blonde stated at the other end of the phone, cutting right to the chase.

"Mhmm"

"Let's have it." The girls exchanged their schedules with one another, finding they once again had identical schedules.

"I need you to do me a favor" Chloe said to Aubrey after they were finished celebrating they would once again be in all of the same classes together.

"Let's hear it" Aubrey replied, already having an idea as to what her best friend was going to ask.

Chloe paused before replying. "I need to you find out what Beca's schedule is."

_Spot on_, Aubrey thought to herself as she heard Chloe's request. "Is there a particular reason you can't ask her yourself?"

Chloe bit her lip worriedly, unwilling to admit everything to Aubrey right then. "Can you just do it for me, please Bree?"

"Of course I will. I'll give you a call when I know" Aubrey promised.

"Thank-you" Chloe said appreciatively. She knew that Aubrey was being such a good friend to her, and as hard as it was to talk about what had happened between her and Beca, she didn't want to leave her in the dark about it forever. "We should get ice cream. Tonight, if you can make it and are able to find out by then."

"I'll see what I can do" Aubrey assured her before their call ended. _What the hell happened between them?_ She thought to herself. Aubrey knew she was likely to find out later that night.

* * *

After depositing their purchases at the apartment, the three roommates decided to go to one of the restaurants close to their apartment for dinner that evening, not in the mood to cook whatsoever.

"I'm really impressed you thought to get a wall-sized Electoral College map we can color in throughout the night" Aubrey noted to Beca after their server brought them their drinks.

"I can't believe I'm going to admit this, but you can thank Pinterest for that" a grimace formed on Beca's face as the words came out of her mouth. "Obviously I didn't get it because I wanted it at the party; I figured all of you poli-sci freaks would geek out over it"

"Sure Mitchell" Aubrey replied unconvinced before turning to Chloe. "Have you found any ideas for appetizers?"

"My mom actually sent me instructions for a fruit platter in the shape of an American flag" Chloe nodded.

"How perfect for Miss Public Health" Beca smirked.

"That's actually a really good idea considering the rest of the crap that'll be there" Aubrey retorted as Chloe smirked back at the brunette. Their server came back shortly after to get their orders for dinner.

"I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back" Chloe excused herself as she got up from her chair before walking away from the table. Beca's eyes followed Chloe as she made her way to the back of the restaurant; when she brought her attention back to the table, she found Aubrey staring at her, a curious look on her face.

"Is something the matter?" Beca asked Aubrey slowly, well aware Aubrey had caught her staring at Chloe.

Aubrey shrugged as she took a sip of her drink. "You like her."

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Beca lied flatly, avoiding any eye contact with Aubrey.

"Look, I don't care how you feel about her," Aubrey swiftly waved off Beca's response, "I just don't want to see her getting messed up by you again."

Beca stared at the blonde; she knew Aubrey meant well and was doing this to protect Chloe, but she considered this conversation slightly unwarranted. "I don't think I've done anything for you to assume that I'm going to do anything at all that might possibly hurt her" she replied. "She and I are friends which is more than I thought we'd be at the beginning of the semester. Why would I ruin even that?" the brunette posed.

Aubrey considered Beca's point. "Just be careful" she warned. Chloe returned to the table soon after, neither of the girls speaking immediately.

"Everything alright?" Chloe asked, looking from Beca to Aubrey.

"Great" Aubrey and Beca said in unison, cringing as they did this. Their food was soon brought to them, the subject dropped as they dug into their meals.

* * *

"It looks like Beca is going to have AP Government and Spirituality and Womanhood with us" Aubrey informed Chloe as they sat down at the outdoor table, dishes of ice cream in front of them. "Her Spanish class is during our lunch, and our free periods don't overlap, but she is in our homeroom."

"Balls!" Chloe exclaimed, stabbing the scoop of ice cream forcefully with her spoon. Aubrey surveyed her, intrigued.

"Do you not remember after you and I had been elected as class officers specifically requesting she, Amy and Stacie all be put into our homeroom with whoever our class moderator is going to be this year?"

"I forgot" Chloe said curtly, pulling the spoon out of her dish.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say you probably also forgot Beca is running the sound and light boards for the fall musical?" Aubrey guessed. Chloe only continued to fume.

"Do you think Mrs. Bottoms would understand if I chose not to audition this year?" Chloe wondered.

Aubrey sighed, having had enough of the air of mystery surrounding Chloe's desire to avoid Beca. "No, you love doing the school musicals, you are absolutely not skipping out this year" she replied sternly. "What the hell happened with you two?"

Chloe inhaled deeply, knowing she was going to eventually have this conversation with Aubrey. She had actually gone into the night with the plan to tell Aubrey everything; actually following through with such a plan was entirely different than just the intent of it, Chloe learned. She found herself opening her mouth numerous times to begin her explanation, no words or sounds coming out each time. Aubrey did not prod her best friend as this continued to occur, knowing that whatever she was going to say was probably very hard for her to admit aloud.

"I liked Beca" Chloe began, "In a more than friend kind of way. We kissed the last night of class trip, and were hooking up for about a month. We got into a fight about bringing dates to prom, and I let it slip that I was in love with her. I thought that maybe she felt the same way, but apparently she didn't. Then prom happened, and we got into this huge blowout there because she didn't tell me the entire truth about her relationship or whatever with Luke, and we haven't talked since." Chloe breathed in deeply, saying all of this in just a few breaths. "Yeah, that about sums it up."

Aubrey looked at her best friend, who appeared to be on the verge of tears after admitting all of this to her in such a short span of time. _Jesus Christ,_ Aubrey thought. _She's been carrying all of that around with her for months, not taking about it with anyone. _Aubrey reached for her best friend's hand taking it in her own. "I had no idea, Chloe. Wow."

Chloe grasped Aubrey's hand tightly. "I thought things would have worked themselves out by now, but I'm pretty sure everything is beyond repair at this point. I screwed everything up."

"Seriously?" Aubrey asked incredulously. "Anyone who can't see what an amazing person you are is the one who screwed up. You didn't do a thing wrong here."

"If I hadn't said I was in love with her I doubt it would've gotten as bad as it did" Chloe reasoned.

Aubrey shook her head. "It seems like you had some serious issues communicating with each other, but you can't put all of this on yourself."

Chloe considered her best friend's words, knowing she had a point. She knew it was unwarranted to put the blame of all of this on herself. "Thanks for taking all of this so well."

"People are going to love who they love, no one else has a right to question that" Aubrey replied. "There is one bone I'd like to pick with you about this whole ordeal though."

_Oh no,_ Chloe thought. "And that would be…?"

"The two of you hooked up with me no five feet away from you?"

"It was just one kiss!" Chloe corrected, "A very hot kiss at that, but nonetheless-" Chloe stopped, the pain from the memory overwhelming her. Aubrey could sense this as well.

"Sorry" Aubrey apologized, "This must be really hard on you."

"It is" Chloe admitted. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you until now."

Aubrey shrugged. "I could tell something was bothering you, but I didn't want to force the issue. I had a feeling you'd tell me when you were ready to."

Chloe smiled, thankful she had such an understanding best friend. They chatted the rest of the night before going to their respective homes, Chloe well knowing that handling this school year was going to be a lot easier with Aubrey there to support her.

**A/N: Lyrics are from Jimmy Eat World's "A Praise Chorus."**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Ok, longest chapter yet! Thanks again for the reviews and feedback, they are all much appreciated.**

_Still the same old decent lazy eye, straight through your gaze. That's why I said I relate. I said we relate, it's so fun to relate._

Chloe power-walked the entire way home on election night, frustrated that she had gotten out of work late after having an extremely dull morning and afternoon. Why a citizen had decided to call her office insisting that Obamacare was to be on the ballot and was going to call the Federal Election Commission if something wasn't immediately done about it was beyond her. _I am never answering the phones at work again_, Chloe thought to herself as she turned the street corner where her apartment was located. She still had a number of things to do before the party, and knew that Aubrey would be on edge, insistent that they leave the apartment with ample amount of time in order to walk the less-than half mile or so over to Jesse's. Chloe was stressing herself out thinking of all of this as she barreled through the front door of the apartment, determined to get what she needed to get done right away. What she found as she walked into the living room, however, changed that entirely as a wide grin spread on her face as she took in the sight.

"You didn't" Chloe said slowly, her smile refusing to fade as she turned to Beca, who was currently standing in the middle of the living room. On either side of her, Chloe found life-size cardboard cutouts of the Presidential candidates towering over the brunette.

Beca shrugged, embarrassed. "I saw them on my way home from work and couldn't resist."

"They're perfect" Chloe beamed, "Does Aubrey know you found these?"

Beca shook her head. Aubrey, nostalgic for the election-themed event she had thrown in high school, was desperately looking for such cardboard likenesses from the moment Jesse announced the party, but had come up empty in her efforts.

"She's going to love them" Chloe gushed, walking over to the figures.

"Walking over to Jesse's with these in tow is sure going to be a sight" Beca pointed out wryly.

"You do know that you can just fold them up again, right?"Chloe replied.

"And resist our neighbors thinking the President is taking a casual stroll down the street?"

"Oh please" Chloe brushed off the idea, "Anyone with half a brain is going to know right away that a short little girl is simply walking behind a cardboard cutout of the President, even in the dark of night."

Beca held her hand up to her chest, a pained expression on her face. "That hurts, Beale" she said sarcastically.

Chloe strolled over to the other side of Beca, standing behind the cutout of the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney. "If it's any consolation, I would still like to put you in my binder" Chloe made her way toward Beca, carrying the cutout in front of her.

"No please, I don't want to go into the binder full of women!" Beca mockingly put her hands up in surrender before running away from Chloe. Chloe, leaving the candidate likeness aside, chased Beca around the living room and through the kitchen. Chloe grabbed hold of the brunette's waist as she cornered her in the dining room, half-carrying her towards the living room, not a single thought to it whatsoever.

"I know Aubrey has extra binders in our room somewhere, let's go Mitchell" Chloe teased before stopping in the middle of the hallway, her grasp on the brunette relaxing. "Where is Aubrey by the way? I thought she'd be home by now."

"Did you not hear the shower start up a few minutes ago?" Beca stood up, gesturing over to the bathroom before a light bulb went off in her head.

"What is it?" Chloe asked with interest as she saw Beca's face light up in sheer mischief.

"We both know how much Aubrey hates slasher films, you know the ones that scare the crap out of you and the psychopath turns up hovering over you or right next to you out of nowhere?"

"I feel like I'm talking to Jesse and not you" Chloe commented.

Beca's eyes narrowed, "Forced moviecation" she briefly explained, "You do know what I'm talking about though, right?"

"Oh, absolutely" Chloe replied, "But where are you going with this?"

In lieu of a reply, Beca tucked the Romney cutout under her arm, making her way over to the bathroom as she quietly slipped inside of the room. Moments later, she came out alone.

"What did you do?" Chloe asked slowly. Before Beca could reply, they heard a shriek come from the bathroom, a quiet thud sounding as something hit the floor.

"Willard Mitt Romney!" Aubrey scolded from the other room, "Beca I know you did this!"

Beca and Chloe rushed into the bathroom, finding Aubrey, towel secure around her, standing in the bathtub, the cardboard cutout fallen to the floor with a visible dent in its chest.

"I open the shower curtain to find _this_ inches away from me!" Aubrey explained, pointing at the floor. "I thought it was an intruder at first glance, how else was I supposed to react?"

Neither Beca nor Chloe could reply, as both were in complete hysterics over the ordeal.

"I just hope we can fix him before the party" Beca noted as she caught her breath, her hands planted on Chloe's shoulders as she stood across from her in order to steady herself.

Chloe picked up the cutout, standing it up once again. "You're lucky Mitt, being made out of cardboard is no longer a pre-existing condition."

* * *

Senior year of high school was going about as well as Chloe had expected, which meant terribly. She knew that she was taking a rigorous class load, opting into taking college-level math, science and language courses in order to look more attractive to the colleges she'd be applying to, while some of her other classmates lounged around school with one free period after the other. Senior year for Chloe wasn't going to be a breeze by any means, she knew that very well when she had signed up for all of her classes the year before, but she didn't think it would have been this strenuous from the start. In addition to her overwhelming school schedule, Chloe was working on getting her college application materials together, often finding herself on the hunt with Aubrey as they stalked the hallways for select teachers that were writing their letters of recommendation. And if that wasn't enough to occupy Chloe's time, she was also spending three nights a week at school rehearsing for the musical.

_Thank god for Aubrey,_ Chloe often thought to herself. The blonde was enduring the same challenges this year as she was, and Chloe was grateful for that. Aubrey was on top of everything, making study and homework schedules for the both of them as they sat in the back row of the auditorium during rehearsal breaks, and making coffee and food runs when they needed the extra fuel to continue on. Aubrey was her primary support system guiding her through the hellish year, and having someone there who would scream in frustration with her over it all was comforting to Chloe.

One of the only positive aspects to being so incredibly overwhelmed with all things school, Chloe realized, was she hardly had time to think about Beca, the dozen or so other things she had to keep up with taking up all remaining focus in her mind. It was a blessing really; any time devoted to Beca last year was consumed with vocal lessons with the musical director, or mastering the past preterite tense of ireegular Spanish verbs, or memorizing the intricate stages of the Krebs cycle for biology. While Beca may have been in her homeroom, she was often walking in late or skipping it entirely; on the days she was there, Chloe was often busy discussing with Aubrey and the other class officers their combined agenda for the year, while Beca would talk with Stacie or Amy or, against all school codes, quietly listen to music in the back of the room. She was able to avoid Beca in both their AP Government and Spirituality & Womanhood classes they had together, as Beca chose to sit in the back of each of these classrooms, thus being out of Chloe's line of vision and focus, and Beca wasn't required to be at play practice just yet so she hadn't run into the brunette after school. Successful time management was Chloe's most powerful weapon, wielding it effectively to ensure she had no idle time to devote to thinking about the brunette. If she gave herself even a minute to think about what had occurred the year prior, she would be stuck on thinking about all things Beca Mitchell for hours, even days. Chloe knew if she let herself think about Beca, much less be around her, it was more than likely that she would begin to have hope that things would go back to normal, the way they were before it had all fallen apart. She would convince herself that all she needed was one conversation, one exchange, and Beca would apologize for everything that had happened and they would at the least be friends again. Chloe had to keep moving forward, she told this to herself often, and most of the time she was able to do just that.

Chloe shouldn't have been surprised when Beca turned up at play practice one Saturday morning; it was the day to set up the extension of the stage onto the permanent one the school used for assemblies and Mass, and the entire cast and crew was required to be there to put it together. What Chloe did do, however, was curse the fact that somehow Beca had been placed to work alongside her as they hauled the large pieces of the stage together into one. Neither girl said much to the other, as Chloe had Aubrey on the other side of her and Beca was intently talking to the stage manager about ideas surrounding light and sound effects. Still, even the slightest brushing of Beca's forearm against their own as they lifted pieces of the stage together was enough to effect on her. How could she be standing next to Beca, someone who meant so much to her less than six months ago, and not utter a single word, yet be launched into repressing a slew of memories at the least bit of contact with her? Chloe shuddered, moving ever so slightly away from Beca to ensure their bubbles of personal space wouldn't overlap for the remainder of the morning. She just had to get through putting the stage together, Chloe told herself, then Beca would go and begin testing out the sound and light boards to determine what effects to use for the production. If only it would have been that simple, she later pondered.

Chloe sat in the mezzanine below the stage as she sorted through the collection of props St. Bernadette's had accumulated over the years from one production after the next, charged with the task of determining what they would and would not be able to use this year, which would then determine what the director would have to purchase. She didn't mind the work, it was simple enough of a task and she was able to work quickly. As she was halfway through her list, she heard footsteps approach from behind; turning around, she found Beca, cardboard boxes in hand as she walked over and placed them on the table Chloe was seated at.

"Apparently Mrs. Bottoms went thrift store crazy and decided to buy more props" Beca explained as she stood across from Chloe, deliberately not looking at her but instead ruffling through the contents of the box closest to her.

"Great" Chloe sighed. Part of the task involved documenting whether or not the current props were present, and adding those that were not on the current list. This part of the job was more time consuming, and meant Chloe would not complete her project until a few hours after she had originally projected.

Beca knew Chloe's frustration well, as they had done prop inventory the year before. "I can stay and help if you want."

"That's okay, you don't have to do that" Chloe replied quickly, looking among the current pile of miscellaneous items spread across the table.

Beca sat down at the other end of the table, not listening to Chloe. "Don't be ridiculous, you're going to be here for hours with all of this." Beca was right and Chloe knew that; a part of her was almost okay with such a consolation if she wasn't going to be around Beca for the next few hours. Logic got the best of the redhead, however, and didn't argue any further, the desire to not be at school well into the evening getting the better of her.

"You don't have any fancy light and sound work to be doing?" Chloe questioned, her eyes following Beca as the brunette settled into the seat across from her.

"Considering half of the lights are being replaced next weekend, not yet no" Beca explained steadily. Chloe nodded, and they began to work in silence, Beca taking half of the list Chloe was working her way through checking.

Chloe studied Beca as she worked, pen in between her lips as her eyes ran down the sheets of paper in front of her. How could someone who meant so much to her sit no five feet away and have it feel as though they were strangers? The silence between them was deafening to Chloe; a comfortable silence was one thing, she reasoned. She and Beca were able to just lay next to one another and be completely content not saying a thing for minutes, even hours, the only sounds being the beat of Beca's heart Chloe could hear as she'd rest her head on Beca's-

Chloe shook her head, expelling the memories from her mind as they became too much for her to handle. That was then, she told herself. Now, silence between her and Beca only exacerbated the tension in the room.

"You alright?" Beca asked carefully, taking note of the look on Chloe's face. It was a look full of hurt and remorse, and she would have given anything to be able to make that look never appear again. Beca knew she had royally screwed up everything with Chloe, but at this point felt that it was all beyond repair no matter what she could say.

Chloe's head snapped up, looking directly at Beca. _Really, Mitchell, really? Do you really think I'm okay? Are you sure you want to be asking that? _She thought as she considered how to respond. "Fine" she breathed, turning back to her work. Her concentration didn't hold much longer with everything currently running through her head, knowing that she simply couldn't handle being in the same room as the other girl for much longer.

"I need some air" the redhead announced abruptly, getting up from her seat before making a beeline for the staircase that would take her back up to the auditorium. She found herself running, past the stage, past Aubrey and the others painting the set, and past the rows and rows of chairs before reaching the doors, pushing past them to get to the main exit of the school, the chilled fall air hitting her squarely in the chest and flooding into her lungs.

* * *

The election night party was up and running as the intern class gathered into the living room and kitchen of the Capitol Hill townhouse, appetizers and drinks galore. The flat-screen television played the news coverage of one of the cable networks, speculations regarding early exit polls floating about as they waited for the polls to close before official results began to pour in. Given the closeness of the election, it was bound to be a long night, hours to go until the country would know who their leader would be for the upcoming four years; fortunately, the party showed no signs of waning, as the young adults conversed and interacted with energy and enthusiasm.

Chloe walked out of the kitchen, Solo cup in hand as she floated among her classmates, talking from one group to the next. Everyone in the class knew who Chloe was; whether it was because of the energy she possessed that just drew others in, making them want to get to know her, or because Chloe was t_hat girl_ who pulled up the YouTube segment of her stint on C-SPAN earlier in the semester for the class to watch the following Friday, it wasn't entirely clear. Chloe enjoyed being around others, it was as simple as that.

She approached Aubrey, who was busy talking to Cynthia Rose, an intern in the Vice President's office who Aubrey had become friends with from their shared daily commutes. While in the midst of their discussion, Cynthia Rose's attention snapped away from the blonde, her eyes following a path indistinguishable to the other girls.

"What's got your attention, Cynthia?" Chloe studied her inquisitively as she attempted to determine what had caught the girl's attention.

Cynthia Rose shook her head, turning back toward Chloe and Aubrey. "My roommate Lily" she explained, "She'll just randomly disappear various evenings and no one knows where she goes or what she's doing." Cynthia Rose and Lily both lived in the townhouse Jesse lived in, and the two girls shared a room with one another.

Chloe pulled up the image of Lily in her mind, a slight, quiet woman with straight, jet black hair and bangs. "Have you tried asking her where she's going?"

"Have you tried to decipher what she's saying when she speaks?" Cynthia Rose questioned back, laughing to herself. "The girl cannot amplify her voice if her life depended on it."

Chloe and Aubrey laughed, well remembering back to the first day of class during icebreakers when Dr. Bradley had asked her to tell the class where she was interning for the semester as well as a fun fact about herself. The vision of Dr. Bradley completely baffled as he, as well as the rest of the class, was unable to hear Lily's response stood out to them, recalling all-too-well how eventually the rest of the interns began nodding at whatever it was Lily had said, leaving Dr. Bradley with the impression he needed his hearing examined.

"Where is she interning?" Aubrey asked "National Park Service?"

Cynthia Rose shook her head in disbelief, "Yeah, the 'Park Service', let's call it that" she replied using air quotes around the assumed internship placement of her roommate. "I'm convinced she's working for the CIA, you cannot convince me otherwise. Park ranger meetings happening at ten at night my ass."

"That's definitely an interesting theory you have there" Chloe laughed, not sure whether or not to believe Cynthia Rose.

"You don't have to believe me, that's fine" Cynthia Rose assured her as she sensed Chloe's doubt, "That one just has some secrets, you know what I mean?"

Aubrey considered her point, "Maybe you should try following her to wherever she's going sometime."

Cynthia Rose shook her head. "Been there, done that. I lost her as soon as she turned the corner, and it wasn't even dark out."

_Maybe this girl is working for the CIA_, Chloe thought to herself. "Well I hope you figure it out before the end of the semester."

Cynthia Rose nodded before walking over to one of her housemates, Benji, a crowd forming around him as he made an American flag disappear into thin air. Chloe and Aubrey stood where they were, surveying their peers around her as they nursed their drinks. Jesse was around the kitchen table engaged in a game of Apples to Apples with five or so others; two other Senate interns, Jessica and Ashley, were talking in another corner near the table of drinks. Everyone in the room was working hard this semester, and this night was theirs to enjoy, unwind, and have a good time.

Chloe instinctively found herself searching for Beca before she consciously realized it, soon spotting the brunette animatedly talking to Donald, an intern at the State Department from what she remembered. Chloe felt herself holding her stare on Beca, watching her face contort in a variety of facial expressions as she explained to Donald whatever it was she was talking about. Beca's eyes met her own, the brunette smirking at her from across the room as she caught Chloe staring at her. Chloe rolled her eyes, smirking back as Beca made another face at her. Currently, things were easy with Beca, nothing feeling forced whatsoever. So what if they held eye contact for longer than what was necessary, and so what if there was a hell of a lot of subtle flirting going on under every other word spoken? _Flirting? Is that the way this is going with her? _Chloe questioned her own thoughts, _Who are you trying to fool, Beale?_

It had really become somewhat of a game between the two. It was as if there was a line that neither had wanted to entirely cross with one another, but damn were they nearing the edge of it. Actually, Chloe reasoned, she was pretty sure at this point they were both straddling the middle of the line, neither fully committed to outwardly acting on the thoughts in both of their heads, testing the waters before jumping in completely. There was valid reasoning to do this on both of their parts; in just a matter of eight weeks they had gone from thinking they would never see the other again, to…whatever it was they were. _Friends, definitely friends_ Chloe assured herself, _flirty friends even. _Forgotten from Chloe's memory was the mixed emotions felt when she accidentally grabbed a hold of Beca's hand, only to be replaced days later by functioning as if neither had a strict personal bubble to adhere to. She didn't question why she was suddenly okay with doing things like poking at Beca's ribs to annoy her or slapping her arm whenever Beca made a snide comment when they watched television. She supposed she was doing what she knew best-living in the present, not a thought at all to the past. As long as she kept up with this, she figured things with Beca would be good.

"Earth to Chloe!" Aubrey's voice rang through her ears as she snapped out of her own thoughts, turning towards the blonde. "You did bring those papers I asked you to hold onto for me, right?"

"Only about ten times before we left the apartment" Chloe rolled her eyes. Aubrey and Jesse, each being the political junkies that they were, made wagers on various House and Senate races as well as the outcome of the electoral college with one another. The two had originally asked Beca and Chloe if they had wanted to participate in the harmless betting as well; while Chloe knew better not to bet against Aubrey in anything, Beca simply wrote 'Ireland wins but Krum gets the Snitch' on her sheet of paper, much to Aubrey's disapproval. Chloe acted as a mediator between the two, holding onto their guesses until election night, the winner being able to choose the location of where their first dinner date would take place.

"Just checking" Aubrey replied, looking over as Jesse argued with one of his housemates over the selection of the winning card for the current round.

Chloe looked over at Aubrey and the way she looked at Jesse; it didn't take her long to realize it was very similar to the way she looked at Beca. She knew it by the small smile that formed on Aubrey's lips, the intense yet understated focus in her eyes as she watched him from across the room. Chloe understood that Jesse made Aubrey happy and this is why she reacted this way when she saw him. She half-envied her best friend; to have feelings for someone without an extensive history clouding up any sense of judgment or ability to reason. Jesse hadn't crushed Aubrey and let her down time and time again, no teenage angst was currently being repressed and at the verge of spilling out of either, threatening to ruin the current positive trend. Chloe desperately wished things weren't so complicated with Beca; hell maybe they didn't need to be. She knew there were a number of ways to get from point A to point B. For Aubrey and Jesse, she reflected, such a path was a simple straight line, no complications whatsoever; for Chloe, her journey involved circling around and zig-zagging back and forth within the empty space between the points before she would reach her desired endpoint with Beca, wherever that was.

* * *

Aubrey watched as Chloe flew out the doors of the mezzanine and sprinted out of the auditorium, immediately sensing that something was wrong. Chloe wouldn't make an exit like that unless she was upset or she was dealing with a family emergency or something of similar graveness. Aubrey placed her paintbrush on the nearby tray, hopping down from the stage as she excused herself from the aud, walking into the second floor hallway of the school, on the lookout for her best friend. She peered down the staircase that lead to the ground floor of the school, no sign of her in the senior lounges that she could see, and was unable to find her in any of the unlocked classrooms. Aubrey finally made her way to the front of the school as she opened its front doors, finding Chloe sitting down, leaning against one of the railings as she tucked her knees into her chest.

"Talk to me Chloe, what's going on?" Aubrey said softly, crouching down in front of her.

Chloe looked up at Aubrey, eyes puffy and red as she inhaled and exhaled deeply. "I-I can't handle it anymore. I can't even be in the same room as her at this point."

_Beca, _Aubrey thought to herself. "What was she doing in the mez with you?"

Chloe explained the situation to her. "I don't honestly know what happened. We were just working on prop inventory, and I guess I got to thinking about how things used to be with her. It must have hit a nerve." Chloe took in a deep breath to steady herself, continuing. "I can't stand how things are now with her, and the scary thing is I would let things go back to how they were before in a heartbeat if she would just say she was sorry, no questions asked. It shouldn't be that easy for her right?"

Aubrey considered Chloe's question. From her own perspective, Aubrey felt that things most definitely should not be that simple for Beca given what she had put Chloe through over the last few months. To not speak or reach out to her at all over the summer, and then be welcomed with open arms at the recitation of two words she might not even entirely mean? She considered saying this to Chloe, but then considered it from Chloe's angle; from what Chloe had told her she knew Beca had meant a lot to her. There were just some people who you loved unconditionally no matter what they would do or say, and Aubrey had a feeling Chloe had put Beca into such a category. Eventually, Aubrey's protective nature won the round.

"Absolutely not. Honestly Chloe, you shouldn't even give keep open the option of someday giving her a second chance. She has done nothing to make you think that she deserves it, so why reserve such a thing for her in the first place?" Aubrey replied calmly to Chloe, doing her best to keep her own emotions in check. "I get why you want to hold onto the possibility of her wanting to make amends, but I see that as being too late at this point. She had all summer to do that and she didn't."

"Are you telling me I should let go of her?" Chloe asked quietly.

Aubrey shrugged. "You should do whatever you need to do. I know it's going to be hard for you, but I know how strong you can be and I know you can do this."

Chloe mulled over what Aubrey had said to her. Her best friend was right; it wasn't worth holding onto any residual feelings for Beca if she didn't return or express them at this point. There was no point in working herself up about being in Beca's presence if Beca remained unaffected over being around her. Chloe knew what she had to do, and that was get rid of any and all feelings for the brunette, and carry on with her final year of high school as if they were never even friends. She would thank herself later when she was out enjoying herself on a Friday evening instead of crying herself to sleep in her room.

"You're right Bree, I think I can do this" Chloe smiled up at the blonde, squeezing her hand tightly.

Aubrey returned the smile. "Let's go back inside. Knowing Tanya, she's probably sent a search party out for us" the blonde joked, referring to the stage director in charge of orchestrating the schematics of the production. Chloe and Aubrey got up from the ground, walking back into the school together to finish their work for the evening. As Chloe walked back downstairs to finish her work with Beca, she told herself, over and over again, to let everything go and try to move on from Beca. The thing was, she said it to herself so many times that she began to be able to do just that.

* * *

About two hours later, after taking part in her own share of rounds of Apples to Apples and another drink or two in her system, Chloe found herself bopping to the beat of the music currently playing throughout the house. Polls had recently closed and preliminary results were starting to be announced by the news anchors, the television going from one channel's election coverage to the other in attempt to be up-to-date on the latest news. Chloe didn't pay a great amount of attention to this, for the greater part of the night was still ahead of them and the states being called for each candidate at the moment was really no surprise to anyone. Chloe did, however, make her way over to the living room over to Beca, who she hadn't spoken to much that night.

"Didn't expect you to be glued to the television tonight" Chloe smirked as she approached Beca, who she found sitting in the armchair in the corner of the room across from the television.

"I could've sworn Jon Stewart was just on…" Beca replied unconvincingly. Chloe laughed, throwing her zippered hoodie over the back of the chair as she perched herself on one of the arms of the chair, legs going across Beca's lap.

"Hot piece of…donkey" Beca read Chloe's tee-shirt from where she was sitting, noting the mascot of the Democratic Party across the blue shirt fabric covering Chloe's abdomen, unable to hide the playful smile that formed across her face. "Very cute."

Chloe lightly slapped Beca's shoulder, well knowing she intentionally interpreted the meaning of her shirt incorrectly. "Mhmm."

Beca laughed at Chloe's reaction. "I just didn't want you thinking I was making an unwarranted pass at you or anything" the brunette said with ease. _This feels way too familiar._

"So instead you decide calling me a donkey would be the way to go? Smooth Mitchell, very smooth" Chloe said reassuringly, taking a sip out of her drink.

"Clearly I should just not talk, ever again" Beca deadpanned, maintaining a straight face as she looked at the redhead.

Chloe shrugged, putting her cup down on the end table beside her. "Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to happen" she mused with a wink. Her ears perked up as she made out the guitar riff of the song that had just come on, recognizing it as Silversun Pickup's 'Lazy Eye.'

"That song is my jam" Chloe noted to Beca, tapping her fingers to the beat of the song, which had been a favorite of hers since high school.

"Don't say it" Beca warned her, well aware of Chloe's lady jams from their days in high school after Chloe had shared an article with Beca from _Seventeen_ entitled "Love Yourself," or something to that effect as she recalled.

"Oh my god, not for that reason" Chloe brushed off Beca's assumption toward the song, hitting the brunette once again. "That song does kind of build though." _Why are you admitting this to her? And why do you keep finding ways to touch her?_

The truth was, Chloe enjoyed this song so much, possibly even more now than when she originally heard it years ago, because of the eerie connection she felt to the it in relation to her and Beca. Her interest in the song peaked when she heard it during an evening run, paying close attention to the lyrics and the way they were being sung by the vocalist. The lead singer started out the song calmly, almost patiently through the first half of the song before he began to scream the lyrics, almost out of sheer frustration from whatever he was going through; he was screaming for a reason, Chloe thought, and she could relate. Chloe was waiting for the right point in time to potentially act on her growing feelings for Beca, the point in time largely resting on figuring out whether or not she could forgive Beca for what she had done so long ago. Truth be told, Chloe hadn't determined whether or not she could do just that, much less when, but figured it was just a matter of time until that occurred. Until then, she was limited to playful banter and constant side-glances and looks toward the brunette, as if her eyes were locked, her gaze fixed on Beca and her alone.

"Gross Beale" Beca replied jokingly, her attention turning towards Aubrey and Jesse as they sat on the couch beside them.

"Pennsylvania was just called for Obama, all of the other swing states are still too close to call" Jesse informed them as the network played a commercial break.

"Jesse, all of our guesses on the electoral map are matching up so far" Aubrey said as she held the two sheets of paper in front of her.

"That's not really that surprising though, is it?" Chloe asked, staring from one to the other. "How did you guys determine which candidate was going to win each state?"

"Nate Silver" both stated in unison, as if the answer was obvious. Neither had realized what the other had said until moments later, slowly turning toward one another for an explanation.

"I read _FiveThirtyEight_ just about every day, does that really surprise you?" Aubrey explained to Jesse, eyebrow raised.

"So do I! I'm reading _The Signal and the Noise_ right now!" Jesse explained, standing up from the couch in excitement of the shared interest recently discovered. Aubrey looked up at Jesse, staring intently at him, before she pounced up, arms going around Jesse's neck as her lips met Jesse's. Beca and Chloe could see the shock in Jesse's eyes as this occurred before he eased into the kiss, his hands cupping around Aubrey's face as they stood, immobile in the middle of the living room.

"I wonder what the statistical probability of that happening tonight was" Beca cleverly quipped to Chloe, who couldn't help but smirk at the remark.

"Come on, I'm thirsty" Chloe stood up from the arm of the chair, extending her hand to Beca as she pulled the brunette up from the chair before making their way over to the kitchen. The girls didn't make it to their destination, however, as one of the party guests bumped into Chloe, spilling his drink all over her jeans.

"Seriously" Chloe seethed, looking down at her legs, the beverage soaking into the fabric. "It had to be red?"

"I guess someone thought since the country was going to go blue again, at least something should be red?" Beca suggested. Chloe shook her head, thrusting her phone into Beca's hand as she made her way up the stairs to the second floor bathroom. Beca, not sure what else to do, followed the redhead through the house, standing in the doorway of the bathroom as Chloe vigorously scrubbed at one of her pant legs.

"God, this will not come out" Chloe muttered, throwing the washcloth in frustration into the sink. She considered her next tactic as she scratched the back of her head, lips pursed. Beca watched Chloe as she did this, moving into the room as Chloe approached, closing the door shut.

"What are you doing?" Beca asked slowly, surveying the redhead as she walked back toward the sink.

"I am not letting these jeans be ruined by some douchebag frat-boy interns" Chloe stated, undoing the first button of her jeans.

Beca immediately turned around to give Chloe her privacy as she took off her jeans, trying very hard to think about anything but Chloe, half-naked, no two feet away from her.

"Nothing you haven't seen before, Beca" Chloe pointed out from behind her, smiling to herself at the brunette's chivalry as she removed her jeans from around her ankles, placing them on the counter of the sink before scrubbing at the stain again.

Beca smirked, turning around slowly with her eyes focused on the floor. Slowly, they moved up, from Chloe's feet, her calves, knees and thighs, to the blue underwear Chloe was wearing. Beca's eyes locked on Chloe's right hip, frozen where she stood. Had Chloe not been standing the way she currently was, upper body slightly extended over the counter as she reached toward the sink, her tee shirt rising up and exposing her abdomen and hipbone, Beca probably wouldn't have even noticed it. "Not everything" Beca heard herself say.

Chloe stopped what she was doing, looking up at Beca, already having an idea of what the brunette was referring to. The redhead then looked down her own body, tracing the heart tattoo jutting out on her hipbone with her index finger. She looked back up at Beca, unable to say anything. Beca, unable to utter even a sound, drew the waistband of her own jeans slightly downward, revealing a similar tattoo on her own hip.

_Holy fuck_, Chloe thought to herself, eyes growing wide as they focused on Beca's identical tattoo to her own, permanent fixtures of the ones drawn by their own hands years before. "When did you…"

"The day after graduation. My dad said I couldn't live under his roof with one unless I got my diploma. It was the first thing that came to mind. Yours?"

"The day after my 18th birthday" Chloe said in no more than a whisper.

_Jesus Christ. What the hell am I supposed to make of that? _ Beca thought to herself. _That would have been months after we stopped talking entirely. _She looked up at Chloe, the redhead nervously biting her lip as she continued to process what had just occurred.

_I don't even know what to think._ Chloe paced the few feet in front of her, back and forth, having no idea what to say. She quickly grew tired of the over thinking that she found herself doing every so often, determined not to get stuck in her own thoughts. Instead, Chloe strode towards Beca, pinning her against the counter of the sink, hands resting on the smaller woman's hips. Her eyes stared into Beca's, inches away from one another now, getting lost in the gray-blue she knew too well. Beca brought her hand up to Chloe's cheek, caressing it softly, her thumb trailing down her jawline. Chloe took a step closer to Beca, bodies pressed against one another, her lips slowly moving towards Beca's, feeling her own lips delicately graze the brunette's when-

Shouting, lots of it, rang throughout the house. Chloe's head snapped away from Beca's as she turned towards the door, trying to decipher what was happening the floor below them. Moments later, amid the cheers and clapping, the incessant chant of 'Four more years' was heard all the way from the living room and throughout the rest of the house.

Chloe left the trance she had been in moments ago, attempting to clear her head of everything that was running through her mind. _We almost just kissed. Who knows what else might have just happened. Pull it together, Beale. _ She grabbed her still damp jeans, quickly putting them back on.

Beca stayed leaning against the counter, not entirely sure if what had just happened (and then didn't happen) was a figment of her imagination. She looked over at Chloe, the redhead refusing to make eye contact with her.

"We're missing history" Chloe said many minutes later after they each just stood in silence in the bathroom, unable to move or speak to one another. She walked past Beca, opening the bathroom door as she stepped out of the bathroom. "Are you coming downstairs?"

"Just a minute" Beca breathed, closing the door as she watched Chloe go down the stairs to rejoin the party. She inhaled deeply, trying to calm down what was occurring inside of her.

_Did I really just get cockblocked by the President of the United States?_

**A/N: Alright! I figured I would put this down at the bottom so as to not affect your perspective going into this chapter. To give everyone an idea, I'm thinking there are going to be 18 chapters, plus an epilogue. We're currently in the beginning of November right now, with the semester going until mid-December, so the story isn't over just yet and I have more up my sleeve (insert devious laughter). I came up with the idea of this chapter pretty early on when I began mapping out my story timeline and I really enjoyed writing it, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it (and that hopefully you don't want to kill me). Until next time! Song lyrics are from Silversun Pickups' "Lazy Eye."**


	13. Chapter 13

_The mood it changes like the wind. Hard to control when it begins._

"Way to let me know when you left Jesse's apartment this morning" Chloe said to Aubrey the following afternoon as they met the other for lunch. The interns had all spent the night at Jesse's apartment rather than walk to their respective residences in the middle of the night. When Chloe awoke on the living room floor, not only did she have to be at work in less than an hour, she saw no sign of either of her roommates.

"I thought you would have set an alarm" Aubrey explained, lunch in hand as they sat down together at one of the tables within the café they chose to meet at. "Plus you and Beca had to be at work at the same time, I would have assumed you would have left together."

"Why would you assume I would've left with Beca?" Chloe asked quickly. The events of what had transpired throughout the night, still fresh in her mind, not only made her stomach fill up with butterflies, but also left her even more confused than ever.

Aubrey eyed her best friend curiously. "Because you're friends…and you were together most of the night. I just assumed is all."

"We weren't together the whole night" Chloe refuted, "I didn't even see her when I got up this morning."

"Oh. She was sleeping right next to you when I left." Aubrey replied as she evenly dispersed dressing onto her salad. "You're acting weird, are you ok?" she looked over at Chloe, who was currently tapping her foot nervously against the floor, eyes darting from Aubrey to other parts of the room as to not make direct eye contact with Aubrey. It was as if her mind was in an entirely different place, Aubrey thought.

"I'm fine" Chloe insisted, her cheeks burning up at the thought of Beca's body curled up close next to hers the night before. Or the proximity to one another in general that night, Chloe reflected.

"So this has nothing to do with you being so jumpy then?" Aubrey took a copy of the _Washington Post_ out of her bag, sliding it across the table for Chloe to see.

Chloe looked at the front page of the newspaper, amused. "Believe it or not, I am pretty confident the world isn't going to end because of the President's reelection, even if a fifth of Americans think that's the case" she mused as her eyes focused on graphs of various polling that had been done over the last few days.

"Not that" Aubrey rolled her eyes, reaching across the table, grabbing the front section of the paper and turning it over so the back page was facing Chloe. "Anything look familiar to you?"

Chloe looked at the page of the newspaper in front of her, a collage of pictures depicting the various celebrations across Washington DC in honor of the Presidential election. Chloe was quickly able to zone in on one of the pictures near the bottom of the page, for she immediately recognized Aubrey and Jesse in the middle of the picture caught in an embrace. Although it wasn't a picture taken at the apartment; soon after the election was called for the President and Chloe had made her way downstairs to celebrate with the rest of her friends it was ultimately decided that they would walk over to the White House, hearing that a crowd of people was gathering there. Besides, where else would you rather be on election night in DC?

Chloe wasn't surprised that a picture of her friends had been taken, given the number of news outlets that were covering the various election night celebrations around the district. Hundreds of people were at the grounds by the time they got there, cheering loudly over the election's outcome, American flags waving high in the wind. What did make her eyes grow wide, however, was what she saw slightly to the left in the picture of her two friends, recognizing herself by her red mane of hair, arms wrapped around Beca from behind. Chloe distinctively remembered it being so cold and so windy outside, practically able to feel the sting of the air on her cheeks some twelve hours later. Her logic at that point in the evening in order to stay warm involved seeking refuge in Beca's body heat, slipping her arms around the brunette's waist as she held her close to her, which Beca did not object to. At the moment the picture was taken, from what Chloe had recalled, she had spotted a man dressed as Abraham Lincoln meters away from them, bringing her lips up to Beca's ear to point the sight out to her given how loud it was among the crowd of people around them. Looking at the picture now, it appeared as though she was kissing Beca's cheek, a smile across the brunette's face as Chloe's cold nose nuzzled her cheek. Chloe finally looked up at Aubrey after staring at the picture for many minutes, the blonde looking at her with an all-knowing smile.

"No" Chloe warned her, knowing what her best friend was thinking.

"A picture is worth a thousand words, Chloe" Aubrey wryly pointed out, "So you should probably start talking. Also, you two were MIA for a while right before the election was called, that did not go unnoticed either."

"Is this a lunch or an interrogation?" Chloe slowly asked, the combination of everything Aubrey had thrown at her with her own memories of the previous night making her feel like her head was going to burst open at any given moment.

"Come on Chlo," Aubrey said apologetically, not intending to be confrontational. She was aware of how Chloe and Beca acted around one another in previous weeks, feeling it was inevitable for things to progress with them. "I'm your best friend, you can tell me anything."

Chloe sighed, placing her fork down on her napkin. "Honestly, nothing has happened between Beca and I, as strongly as apparent evidence may suggest otherwise. She had followed me into the bathroom after someone spilled their drink over my favorite pair of jeans, and this picture?" she asked, holding up the paper and pointing to the photo in question, "Completely coincidental. You and I walked the entire way there arms linked, and Jesse was holding my hands to keep them warm no ten minutes before this picture was taken, but I don't see any of that being questioned."

"Fine, you're right it was cold out, I get the closeness of that" Aubrey conceded to Chloe's stubbornness, "But you're not telling me everything that happened in that bathroom. I saw the look on your face when you came downstairs; it was like you had a million different things running through your head."

Chloe knew Aubrey was right, and she knew she could talk to her about anything, as she always did with Aubrey. The thing about talking about a subject though, was knowing where to start. "Beca and I almost kissed" Chloe blurted out, "And as much as I wanted that to happen, part of me is almost relieved it didn't because I don't want her breaking my heart all over again, but there's another part of me that just can't stay friends with her." Chloe took a deep breath before continuing. "Yeah, I think that's the spark-noted version of my brain more or less."

"Oh boy" Aubrey processed the information Chloe had revealed to her. "Wow" she simply replied, unable to say much else at this point.

"I know right? I just don't know anymore" Chloe said defeated and exhausted by trying to figure out what to do about Beca with little to show for it.

"Are you the same person now as you were in high school?" Aubrey asked Chloe, throwing the redhead off-guard. "Of course you're not" Aubrey continued before Chloe could respond, "Not completely anyway. You may still be the same girl that flung herself in front of a blunt letter opener for me, but we grow from the things we experience. It's a part of life."

"So you're saying I should know better than to give Beca another chance?"

Aubrey shook her head. "I'm sure she's grown and learned from everything as well. I think you need to talk to her and have an actual conversation about the things you're not saying to each other."

Chloe frowned at the mention of talking to Beca about their shared past. While she may have been okay with thinking about it on her own, talking to Beca was an entirely different task to accomplish. Part of her knew Aubrey had a point, but she wasn't entirely sure if she would be able to handle such a conversation with Beca. Chloe did her best to push away the past and the feelings surrounding it, instead choosing to focus on the present. She knew she couldn't deny her current feelings for the brunette for much longer, that much was true at least.

"And Chloe?" Aubrey interrupted her best friend's thoughts, "This is me telling you that talking to her about this is now imperative. Since you didn't do this weeks ago with her which would have likely been less complicated, you two are in way too deep to get out of this now if it doesn't happen soon."

"Believe me, I know" Chloe stared into her salad as the two friends finished their lunch. She thought back to the public health metaphor Aubrey had started; Chloe was the patient and Aubrey her doctor telling her she had developed, say heart disease, and these were the things she absolutely needed to do if she wanted to live a long life, whereas they once were things she could have done to avoid medical bills and prescription drug costs. Here Aubrey was, telling her at this point that reconciling her past with Beca was no longer just an option, but required if whatever was between them had a chance of surviving. Chloe knew she should take Aubrey's advice because Aubrey always knew best, but she also knew there was a chance she would change her mind about Beca if she fully faced everything that had happened in high school.

"I'm taking this, for the record" Chloe grabbed the section of the paper that had the candid photo of her, Beca, Aubrey and Jesse, placing it in her tote bag as they got up from lunch to return to their respective internships.

Aubrey shook her head at Chloe as they walked outside before parting ways. "You're lucky I have copies."

* * *

Beca enjoyed managing the light and sound boards for the fall musical; every action had a desired and known result as she had come to learn over the last few years. If she pushed the third fader on the console too quickly, the stage would turn to black more quickly than the actors would expect, causing them to run into parts of the set from not being able to see where they were going. Forget once to make sure the microphone battery packs were fully charged and she would be scolded by the stage manager over the headsets they wore in order to communicate. While she had learned from her predecessor, a lot of what Beca was doing was trial and error, but she eventually learned what not to do.

In a way, she supposed she developed a similar approach to interacting with Chloe Beale.

She thought she would give the redhead her space during the start of the school year, eventually working up the courage to talk to Chloe with something small, like if she had found one of the questions for their AP Government homework. Day after day had passed and Beca wasn't able to close the distance, for the silence between them had grown too vast. She knew she shouldn't have expected Chloe to want to talk to her, but she half-thought the redhead would have sent an olive branch her way by now. So she instead began to show up late for homeroom, because what was the point of being there if it was just going to be another 23 minutes of the day where she couldn't muster even just _one damn word_ to Chloe; this only seemed to annoy Aubrey, which she knew wasn't the way to go if things were going to be made right. She tried talking to her at play practice and was actually able to string a number of sentences together and do just that; who cares if it was about props? She thought it had been somewhat of a success as Chloe hadn't kicked her out of the mez and refused her help, but then Chloe just ran out of the room without any warning whatsoever, only to return stone-faced, answering any of Beca's questions regarding their work with one-word answers.

Two weeks later, and not much had changed since then. Chloe now physically made a point to avoid being in the same room as Beca, and wouldn't so much as even acknowledge her in any of their classes. Beca thought about this up in the auditorium balcony one evening during play practice as she went over her notes for the light cues of a particular scene. She had come to the conclusion already, but it was still on her mind, begging her to figure out how she felt about it. _She's completely moved on and wants nothing to do with me._

Beca soon learned she didn't like this one bit. Sure, she could have gotten over Chloe as well by now, that would have been the reasonable thing to do; things were beyond repair and it was her own fault. She should save herself the heartache and do the same; it would make the rest of the year a lot easier. Of course, Beca wasn't thinking very clearly these days and she didn't do that. So when Beca sat on the edge of the balcony, peering over to the stage the floor below, it was really no surprise she found herself becoming irrationally angry when Tom walked up to Chloe and Aubrey, Tom giving Chloe a hug as a look of happy surprise came over her face at the sight of him.

Beca returned to her seat at the light board, turning her back away from the sight below. She couldn't take it, the helpless feeling of not being able to make things right with Chloe. Giving her space didn't make things better, nor did trying to be in the same room and talking to her about something, anything that was completely unrelated to them. She felt as though all of her options were gone, and that she had lost her for good.

Collapsing onto the floor, Beca began to cry, not being able to hold back the tears that were building up for the last few weeks, from all the looks at Chloe that weren't returned, all of the words that weren't spoken. She was getting back together with Tom, Beca concluded. She supposed it made sense even if she couldn't see it.

The door to the balcony creaked open, Beca's head shooting up to see who was there. She stood up quickly from the floor, wiping stray tears onto the sleeve of her sweatshirt, only to find Chloe, smiling with microphone packs in hand feet away from her. Upon seeing Beca, it being clear to the redhead she had been crying, her smile instantly fell, both girls looking at one another, unable to move or speak.

* * *

Beca was distracted the entire day at her internship, finding it difficult to keep her focus as she completed her research assignments for her supervisor. The events of the previous night flashed before her, causing her to press 'pause' on whatever song she had been listening to when she learned she wasn't paying any attention to it. Her lips, millimeters away from Chloe's as she stood pressed against the bathroom counter, sending shivers through Beca's body as Chloe had gripped her waist tightly, that moment completely gone after the commotion downstairs had grabbed their attention. The redness of Chloe's face and nose as they merrily walked to the White House and stood in the cold among hundreds of others, the fluidness of Chloe wrapping her arms around Beca from behind to stay warm. The walk back to Jesse's apartment being much longer and much colder than they had previously remembered, only for her and Chloe to collapse on the living room floor as soon as they had gotten into the house, Beca unable to move a muscle as Chloe slept inches away from her. These memories found themselves infiltrating Beca's train of thought frequently, unable to get them out of her mind.

She wasn't just imagining what was between them at this point; Beca was nearly convinced of that. Yet if she brought it up to Chloe and found that she was indeed wrong, that Chloe didn't feel the same about her, she would feel like a complete idiot. She wasn't quite sure if she could take the chance of rejection and ruin the good thing they had going for them, even if what was between them was completely obvious to Beca. She was being stupid, Beca knew that; she also knew she wanted to be careful with Chloe, well aware of the amount of history that stood between them that could very well prevent Chloe from giving them another chance together.

Beca walked into the apartment that evening after work, finding Aubrey sitting in the armchair, hunched over as she typed away on her laptop resting on the coffee table. Before she knew what she was doing, before much less taking off her coat, she approached the blonde, words flowing out of her mouth she hadn't expected to voice at all to her.

"IreallylikeChloebutIdontknowifshelikesmeasinamore thanfriendslikelikekindofwayandIdontevenknowifshew ouldevengivemeanotherchancebecauseofwhathappenedin highschoolandithonestlyisjustscaringthecrapoutofme andIhavenoideawhatIshoulddoandyouknowherbestsowhic hiswhyImtellingyouallofthisinsteadofJesse." Beca shut her mouth as quickly as she had opened it, not even sure herself what she had just admitted.

Aubrey blinked a few times, her face remaining neutral as she translated what Beca had spilled out to her, not breaking eye contact with the brunette at all. They stayed like this for several minutes, Beca standing behind the couch, Aubrey turned to Beca, still in a hunched over position from working on her computer as she tried to determine an appropriate response. Finally, Aubrey got up from the chair, surveying Beca closely as she slowly walked over to her. The blonde paused, steps away from Beca before her thumb and forefinger clasped onto Beca's ear, pinching it tightly as she dragged Beca across the hallway amid protests over to her and Chloe's room. Aubrey opened the door with ease before throwing Beca inside and closing the door shut once again.

Beca stumbled across the length of the bedroom, colliding into Aubrey's dresser and sending various earring and trinkets falling onto the floor. She picked them up quickly, putting them in random spots on the otherwise pristine dresser top. Turning around, it was only then that she realized Chloe was staring at her from where she sat on her bed, cross-legged with her laptop resting on her legs.

"What the-" Chloe said slowly as she removed her earbuds from her ears. She had been working quietly on the presentation portion of her research paper, finally in the groove of productivity when she saw something flash from the periphery of her line of vision, a faint thud heard over the song she had been listening to. Looking away from her computer screen, she saw Beca huddled on the floor against Aubrey's dresser.

"Aubrey" Beca responded, as nothing else had to be said to explain her abrupt entrance. Beca walked over to the door, rubbing her throbbing shoulder as she turned the doorknob, opening the door a few inches, only to her confusion have it promptly snap back shut. She tried this numerous times, only to produce the same result over and over again. Chloe got off her bed, more confused by the entire ordeal as ever as she surveyed the situation. The redhead slowly opened the door the few inches it would let her, peering inside the gap between the door and the frame, a frown forming on her face from what she saw.

"She bungee corded the doors together" Chloe said as a matter-of-factly. "We did it to the girl who lived above us in the dorms our freshman year as retaliation for being too loud whenever she and her boyfriend would have sex."

"Perfect" Beca muttered, pounding on the door to get the blonde's attention. "What the hell, Aubrey?"

"You're not leaving that room until you talk to one another!" Aubrey called from the other side of the door. "You two seem to have no issue talking to me, just get it over with!"

Beca leaned against the door, defeated by Aubrey's means to keep them from leaving the room until they talked._ God knows how long she's been carrying the damn cord around the apartment with her,_ Beca thought to herself. She looked at Chloe who was now sitting on her bed, looking up expectantly at Beca.

"This is long overdue anyway," Beca finally took off her coat, setting it neatly on Aubrey's bed as she sat across from Chloe. "Let's talk."

* * *

"Beca," Chloe finally said moment, perhaps several minutes after entering the balcony, only to find Beca crying on the floor. She stood frozen, unable to move or think as Beca stood up from the floor. "Are you-"

"I can't take this anymore" Beca sniffled, saying what had been on her mind for weeks before she changed her mind, "I can't stand being nothing to you anymore, to watch you be happy with someone else. I know it's selfish and I have no right but-"

"Someone else?" Chloe set the mic packs down on the table in front of her, walking closer to Beca.

"I saw you with Tom down there" she gestured over to the stage below them where she had seen Chloe and Tom in an embrace moments ago.

"Tom's younger sister is a freshman at our school" Chloe explained, "He's home from college for the weekend and wanted to surprise her and pick her up from practice for the play that coincidentally I'm one of the leads in." _Why are you explaining this to her, she doesn't deserve an explanation for whatever she saw, even if it was completely harmless. _Yet Chloe could not give herself the answer to this; here she was, talking to Beca, a conversation she hadn't expected to have with her.

"Oh" Beca said, kicking herself from jumping to conclusions so quickly about something she had seen from afar. "Well, thanks for bringing these over" the brunette gestured to the packs Chloe had set on the table.

Chloe nodded, staying where she stood for a few moments, feeling as though Beca had not said everything that was on her mind. When Beca had turned away from Chloe to return to her desk, Chloe sighed, slowly making her way to the balcony door.

"My parents got divorced this summer." Chloe turned around, hand on the door handle as she looked back, finding Beca once again looking at her.

"I had no idea" Chloe said, stunned. "Beca, I'm-"

Beca waved off the redhead's apology. "I didn't say anything to anyone about it or else I'm sure you would have heard. And it was inevitable, but my mom moved to Portland for a job offer she got with her company."

"Maine isn't too far away at least" Chloe offered, not sure what else to say to Beca. The girls currently lived in upstate New York, not very far at all to the east coast of the country.

"Portland, Oregon" Beca corrected, the pain of the separation from her mother evident as her voice cracked. "I've had a lot on my mind because of that I guess. Good timing, huh?"

Chloe didn't know what to say to Beca, who didn't expect Chloe to say anything, as she continued on. "I could've handled everything a lot better than I did, I know that. I've been meaning to talk to you but… I just couldn't. Every time I look at you the only thing I see is you crying, and… it just kills me. I'm so sorry, Chloe."

Chloe stared at Beca, biting her lip nervously as she considered what the brunette had said. "You could've handled everything so much better. We didn't talk for almost five months, Beca, what was I really supposed to think about that?" Chloe took a deep breath as she realized the amount of anger evident in her words, calming herself down before she spoke again. "You could've called. Or texted me. Or…anything. We have countless methods of communication in this day and age now, you know."

"I didn't think you wanted anything to do with me" Beca admitted quietly, her eyes meeting Chloe's.

"Part of me thought the same thing" Chloe acknowledged, "Which may have been the case the first month or so after our fight, but… nothing. I wanted to hear from you but I wasn't about to go pining after you given how you blew up at me. It was kind of on you, honestly."

Beca shook her head at her own stupidity. "I'm sorry. I… I fucked up. I couldn't deal with the divorce and what happened with you at the same time. I should've known it was too late to put off making things right with you until school started up again."

"You could've talked to me about all of that. I know things were really unclear over what we were to each other at the end of last year, but I would've been your friend again if you needed it. No one should have to go through that and not have anyone to talk to about it." Chloe sighed. She knew she was letting Beca off much easier than she had anticipated, but knew deep inside it was the right thing to do after new information about everything else Beca had to deal with over the summer had been brought to light.

"So…friends, then?" Beca said slowly, not sure if what Chloe had said suggested such a thing was still on the table.

Chloe considered the question. As angry and hurt as she was, she decided to put her own feelings aside to be a friend to Beca. They had neglected that aspect of their relationship with one another while they were hooking up with each other, and it felt like the right thing to do.

"I think we can work on getting there."

* * *

"Where do you want to start?" Chloe asked Beca, running her hands over the legs of her sweatpants before tucking them under her legs to keep them from shaking. Here they were, finally going to talk about what was between them.

Beca considered the number of things that were running through her mind regarding her and Chloe, one of them standing out among everything else that she wanted to get off her chest before they went even further. "I'd be dumb to not think there's something here… I mean it's not just me, right?" she studied Chloe's face which remained unchanged as she waited for her response.

"No, it's not just you" Chloe said finally, knowing that Beca was referring to what had been going on between them for so long they had yet to address until now. A small smile formed on her face that caused Beca to smile back, the brunette unable to hide how happy she was that Chloe had cast away her doubts about their feelings for one another.

"Just to confirm what you're saying," Beca said slowly, "You like me…in a more than friends kind of way?"

Chloe rolled her eyes at Beca's antics. "Yes" she genuinely replied. "This is so high school."

Beca froze at the mention of such a point in time, even if Chloe had only said it to refer to the shyness and uncertainty of admitting their feelings to one another. "About that actually…"

"Yes?" Chloe asked, uncertain of where Beca was leading the conversation to.

Beca took a deep breath as she figured out what she wanted to say. "I know a lot of things happened when we were in high school together, some of those things I'm sure you'd like to forget happened if you haven't already. I was a complete idiot then for how I handled everything and I'd do it over again if I could. I guess what I'm trying to say… is there anything you want to talk about that happened back then?"

Chloe looked at Beca as she considered the question. Here was her chance to get everything off her chest about how she felt about what had occurred years ago. At this point, the bad memories outweighed the good ones that were associated with Beca from years before. And here Beca was, in front of her, acknowledging that she had screwed up; since she already knew that, it wouldn't hurt to tell her how the things she had done made her feel, right? She thought back to the nights where she waited for replies to her texts sent to Beca, for Beca to pick up her calls. She remembered the weekend she spent at Aubrey's house, crying with her head in the blonde's lap as her hair was played with, unable to explain to Aubrey how broken she had felt; she remembered turning numb to all things Beca after her emotional purge. Here was her chance, practically smacking her in the face as the opportunity to work things out with Beca presented itself to her.

Yet Chloe didn't want to actually say any of these things. She didn't want to be controlled by her past, it had done enough damage to her already. In that moment to Chloe, this meant she would push her reservations aside about her developing relationship with Beca. Besides, Beca seemed like she wasn't planning on hurting her again, having already admitted she regretted doing so in the past. Chloe felt optimistic that this time was going to be different.

"Nope" Chloe said simply. She thought back to her conversation with Aubrey that afternoon; she knew Aubrey was right, but wasn't dealing with the past taken care of if Beca had talked about it?

"Are you sure?" Beca asked uncertainly. She wanted to make sure Chloe had proper closure on their history in order to move forward, and was sure that Chloe would have jumped at the opportunity to talk with Beca about it.

Chloe walked the few feet across to Aubrey's bed, sitting next to Beca. "I'm sure" she insisted. _This feels so right, why wouldn't I be sure? Things are going to be fine._ Chloe reached for Beca's hand taking it in her own. Beca looked down at their linked hands, smiling as she turned her body towards the redhead, their eyes locking with one another. Chloe's eyes moved down, focused intently on Beca's lips before going back up to her eyes as she slowly leaned in, their lips finally connecting with one another's. Such a kiss exceeded the expectations of both women, who had considered it long overdue by now. Beca kissed the redhead back, both of her hands resting on Chloe's upper thighs as Chloe's arms went around her neck. Both women couldn't help but smile into the kiss, feeling more strongly toward the other now than they did as teenagers. Minutes later, their lips detached, foreheads resting against the other as they stared into each other's eyes.

"I don't hear any talking!" Aubrey's voice called from the hallway.

"There's a reason for that" Chloe called back, smirking at the blonde's comment as her lips captured Beca's once again.

"Do you think she's been standing near the door the whole time?" Beca said in between kissing Chloe, making Chloe laugh at the image conjured.

"You better not be on my bed!" The blonde called into the room.

"Too late Posen" Beca called back, Chloe continuing to laugh as she leaned back onto the bed, the brunette resting on top of her. Both girls heard a disgruntled 'humph' come from the other side of the door, Beca getting off of Chloe moments later as they heard the careful maneuvering of Aubrey removing the bungee cord that was holding the doors together. Minutes later, Aubrey exasperatedly walked into the room, finding Beca and Chloe curiously staring back at her and now sitting on the edge of Chloe's bed hand in hand.

A small 'oh' escaped from Aubrey's lips as she realized the two were in fact not defiling her bed. "Everything's worked out then I see?"

"You could say that" Beca replied, grasping Chloe's hand tightly in her own.

**A/N: Thanks again to everyone reading and reviewing! I hope this chapter didn't disappoint. Song lyrics are from "Young Blood" by The Naked and Famous.**


	14. Chapter 14

_Forget your scars we'll forget mine. The hours change so fast, oh God please make this last._

Time was a cruel thing. It tended to pass slowly when you'd much prefer it to go by quickly, and when you wanted to stay in a moment forever it would be over in a heartbeat. Actions were permanent, and there was no going back in time to change what you may have done in a situation. Months or years of a relationship could be destroyed in an instant with one conversation, one act, be it intentional or not. Time hardly ever seemed to be a friend or even an ally, but rather the fixed mechanism it was that rarely seemed to be on your side, even when you needed it most. Worst of all, time had a habit of catching up to us and biting us in the ass more often than not.

This is how Beca Mitchell felt about time anyway.

It had been 3 years, 2 months and 17 days from when she had last seen Chloe, before she found herself face-to-face with her at the start of the semester in _their_(and Aubrey's) apartment. Over three years since she had last seen those crystal blue eyes and vibrant red hair at their graduation ceremony from St. Bernadette's. Their class was seated on the venue's stage according to height, so obviously Beca wasn't sitting anywhere near Chloe, but Beca distinctly recalled Chloe walking past her to receive her diploma from the head of school. God did she look breathtaking in her long, floor length dress that was custom of all St. Bernadette seniors to wear instead of traditional graduation robes. She remembered thinking as Chloe shook hands with the head of school that maybe, if things had gone differently, maybe she would have seen Chloe in a white dress of a different kind a few years down the line. She quickly pulled herself back into reality from such a flight of fancy as Chloe returned to her seat and the next name was called, the thought leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.

It really should have been no surprise that Beca, quite tipsy off of champagne from her family celebrations that evening as she had never consumed alcohol before, found herself stumbling over to the tattoo parlor a few blocks from her house after her family had left, adamantly requesting that a particular tattoo be placed on her hip.

It was even longer from when she had last spoken to Chloe. 3 years, 9 months, and 28 days in fact, because there really was an app for everything at this point, Beca had come to learn. Almost four years since words had rolled off of Chloe's tongue that had exclusively been meant for her, since Chloe had acknowledged her presence, that she was there and someone that was worth wasting even just one breath to say something to. It often was said that your senior year of high school was going to fly right before your eyes; for Beca, her last year of high school was anything but that. She endured nearly three full quarters of the year without the one thing-one person rather-that made school ten times better than it was before she had befriended Chloe, even if she hadn't known it at the time.

7 years, 1 month, and 5 days. The day she had first spoken to Chloe. It was during their honors literature class freshman year; Beca was a quiet girl yet bright girl who for the most part kept to herself. She knew who Chloe was by this point in the year, because how could you not know the girl sitting two rows in front of you who flung their teacher into a desk, but even had that not occurred, Chloe had been on Beca's radar, faintly remembering the vivacious redhead introducing herself to Beca at orientation. Anyway, flu season was rampant within the halls of St. Bernadette's, numerous girls being out sick in the middle of October. Every Wednesday, the honors literature class would correct their vocabulary assignments in pairs before the test they would have the following week. Beca's assigned partner was sick and home from the flu, and Aubrey who was Chloe's partner, was as well, despite her desire not to miss a day of class. Mrs. Graham had instructed Beca and Chloe to partner up with one another for that week, and the following week, pending the plague hadn't struck, they would go back to their normal partner assignments.

"_You have really terrible handwriting" Chloe had said to Beca, skimming the page as she corrected the exercise they were currently going over._

_Beca stared at the redhead next to her. _Who does she think she is?_ She first remembered thinking to herself about Chloe. "Thank-you?" she said sarcastically._

"_Sorry, no filter" Chloe apologized, blushing, "Aubrey has really neat handwriting, maybe I'm just not used to yours."_

_Beca smirked as she marked a question in Chloe's workbook as correct. "It's fine, I get that all the time actually. I'm considering it practice for when I become a doctor."_

"_You want to be a doctor?" Chloe asked, lighting up, "Oh my god, so do I!"_

"_Oh, I was just joking. The bad handwriting, doctor thing, that was a joke" Beca smacked herself internally, thinking Chloe probably thought she was being a huge jerk._

_Chloe smirked at the brunette, rolling her eyes as she playfully shoved her shoulder. The bell ringing above them signaled the end of their shortened class for mass later that morning. _

"_What class do you have next?" Chloe asked Beca as the girls began to pack up their backpacks._

"_World history" Beca answered, "You?"_

"_Religion" Chloe made a gagging motion, not for the content of the class, but because of the teacher, Sister Eunice. The nun had a habit of being extremely condescending toward the girls, often referring to them as 'you people' which made Chloe cringe._

"_Have fun with that" Beca laughed, "I should probably warn you that she's wearing her white silk shirt that you can see her bra through, and she's showing some cankle today. She's my homeroom teacher…I'm not stalking Sister Eunice or anything" Beca quickly added._

_Chloe laughed as the two walked out of the classroom, standing in the middle of the hallway. "If her outfit is any indication, my guess is Father George is here to say Mass then." It was well known throughout the student body the rumor of the nun having a small crush on the particular priest._

"_I wouldn't bet against you" Beca replied as they began to part ways. "See you around."_

Beca was certain that neither she nor Chloe would have expected to go through everything they did with one another back then. That's was the thing about time; one couldn't predict where you would end up with someone else months or years down the line, not with 100% certainty anyway. She was sure that her fifteen year old self wouldn't have known that the outgoing redhead in her literature class would come to one day completely own her heart. It actually hadn't hit Beca until their junior year when Chloe had gotten in her car accident; she would later reflect that she was in denial about it many months before this turning point. Beca was also convinced that she never would have seen Chloe after graduation, yet there they were, almost three months ago by now, completely speechless as they were ambushed by one another's presence. Beca should have had some indication it was Chloe singing to 'No Diggity' with her; no one else's voice would have sounded that familiar to her.

"It's weird how things work out, isn't it?" Beca asked Chloe as they walked through one of DC's numerous parks after dinner one evening before they returned to the apartment. It was one of many conversations during one of the many evenings they had spent enjoying one another's company, not wasting any time at all. They fell into a comfortable pattern with one another after admitting their attraction to one another, almost as if nothing had changed between them since high school despite the years spent apart and the heartache both had endured.

"Are you saying this is weird, Mitchell?" Chloe teased, "That's a sure way to a girl's heart."

Beca rolled her eyes, playfully smirking at the redhead. "Not weird in that sense… I don't know. This was the last thing I expected to happen this semester."

"Me too" Chloe said quietly, lacing one of her hands together with Beca's.

Beca smiled quietly, looking down as she saw their hands linked together. "It's really something if you think about it. The odds that both of our colleges were affiliated with the same intern program, that we both applied for the program the same semester, that we were placed in the same apartment…"

Chloe looked over at the brunette. "You're making it sound like this is some big conspiracy theory waiting to be discovered. Is there something you're trying to tell me?"

Beca's face instantly turned serious in a matter of seconds. "Well, I didn't want to have to break the news to you like this, but…" she trailed off, no longer able to keep a straight face because of the genuinely concerned look Chloe was giving her.

"Jerk" Chloe nudged her shoulder into Beca's, the brunette losing her balance as she stumbled away from Chloe, off the pathway they were walking on and falling onto the grass. A mischievous glint forming in the brunette's eyes, Chloe ran away from Beca laughing as the brunette chased her down the path. Beca grabbed one of Chloe's arms with both of her hands, catching up to her before she pinned her against a nearby tree.

Beca looked deep into Chloe's eyes, studying her face closely. "All seriousness aside, I'm really glad I'm here with you now. It almost makes everything else that's happened worth it, if that makes any sense."

Chloe bit her lip as she stared back at Beca, considering what she had said to her. She wasn't sure if it was the phrasing of what Beca had said that got under her skin, but she couldn't disagree with it more. Sure, she was happy that she had been reunited with Beca; were a few months being around one another and slowly but surely falling back into how things once were really proportionate to the time they had spent not seeing or talking to one another? Were the amount of tears she shed over Beca, the emotional roller coaster she endured over and over again with her, really all worth it if they were here together now? Chloe wasn't quite sure what the answer to this was, and she didn't want to figure it out just yet.

In lieu of a reply, Chloe kissed Beca, her hands trailing under her coat and up her back, Beca's hands cupping around her face, pushing any thoughts or slight reservations aside.

* * *

Becoming friends with Beca again was a lot easier then Chloe had expected; she had gone into the idea of being friends with the brunette as something that would happen gradually over the course of the year. It was only a matter of weeks, however, until Chloe and Beca were back to talking to each other in school on a regular basis and texting when they weren't around the other. Chloe couldn't explain it; things were just so easy with Beca, and any second thoughts or feelings of resentment disappeared fairly quickly from Chloe's mind as she and Beca learned to be friends with each other again.

Chloe walked up to the third floor of St. Bernadette's one evening during play practice, quietly slipping inside the balcony where she knew Beca would be. Sure enough, the small brunette was hunched over her workspace, intently looking over her notes as she set up the sound board for upcoming scenes. The brunette took no notice as Chloe slowly creeped up on her, earphones jammed into the brunette's ears as she completed her work.

"Jesus Christ!" Beca shrieked after the redhead had grasped her shoulders without warning to note her presence.

Chloe laughed hysterically at Beca's reaction, from her literally jumping in her seat at the abrupt contact to the short amount of time it took Beca's face to go from scared to unamused once she had realized it was Chloe behind her. "Someone's clearly working too hard."

"And someone's not working at all" Beca pointed out, "Shouldn't you be down there?" she pointed down to the floor below them where the stage was located.

Chloe shrugged as she sat in one of the rows of seating directly behind Beca. "Fifteen minute break. Starburst?" she held out the package of candy from her sweatshirt pocket toward Beca.

Beca obliged, taking one of the wrapped candies at the top of the stack. "Do you remember that article Stacie had read at one point or another last year about how being able to unwrap one of these in your mouth meant you were a good kisser or something like that?"

Chloe smiled at the memory Beca had conjured up. She remembered sitting around one of the lunch tables one fall afternoon with Beca, Aubrey, Stacie and Amy, a magazine being passed around the table that Stacie had brought in with the very phenomenon being described. Blame it on the lack of testosterone in the school, but reading such an article of course resulted in bags upon bags of Starburst candies being brought in for the next few weeks as the girls attempted the very challenge during their free time."I'm not sure what was more entertaining, our teachers not understanding why there was a plethora of wrappers in the garbage or Aubrey's frustration that she couldn't get the hang of it at first."

"Oh my god she was so frustrated," Beca snorted, shaking her head at the ridiculousness of the memory. "I completely forgot about that."

"Oh, I didn't. Why do you think I decided to kiss you and not Aubrey?" Chloe winked, immediately regretting the words as soon as they had left her mouth. _Why did you say that? Why would you say something like that?_

Beca laughed nervously at the remark, it being the first time anything regarding their past relationship had been brought up. "So we can joke about this now?" she asked uneasily.

"We don't have to," Chloe said quickly, backing up from her previous statement, "I don't know why I even said that, I'm sorry."

"Don't be" Beca assured her, "We should be able to bring it up casually with each other without it being awkward I think. It's in the past and it happened and that's that. Besides, we're friends now, right?"

"Right" Chloe agreed, "No stone left unturned."

Beca nodded. "It makes so much sense now."

"What does?"

"If you did in fact pay attention to my Starburst unwrapping prowess; I was clearly the best one out of our group of friends" Beca said jokingly, a smirk plastered across her face.

"Excuse me?" Chloe threw a balled up candy wrapper, hitting the brunette square in the forehead. "I was able to do it in under ten seconds!"

"Obviously I got the better end of that bargain then."

"Clearly, you did" Chloe replied dryly, silence falling over them after the exchange.

"Did you see the new spotlight we got in over the weekend?" Beca asked Chloe a few minutes later, getting up from her seat and walking across the balcony.

Chloe turned in her seat, her eyes following Beca as the brunette stopped at the large light resting in the middle of the balcony. "Is this what you were geeking out about in homeroom the other day?"

"That was no over exaggeration Beale, it was completely called for since the one I had to work with last year was crap and I almost fell off the balcony when its stand collapsed during dress rehearsal" Beca corrected, "But yes, this is what I was geeking out about."

Chloe walked over, standing next to Beca as she surveyed the light. "Can't say I've ever used one of these before."

"I think most people at this school could say that" Beca pointed out, walking to the other side of the light. "You just have to flip this switch here and point. There's really nothing more to it than that."

"Can I try it?" Chloe asked excitedly, eyeing the new piece of equipment with interest.

Beca looked over to the stage, noting that no one was currently up there and thus wouldn't be in direct line of the beam of light the spotlight would cast. "Like I could say no to you." The brunette moved out of the way, Chloe standing in front of the light, surveying the stage in front of them as she positioned the light, ready to take her aim. Beca had apparently overestimated the simplicity of directing the strong ray of light produced, for when Chloe turned on the light it did not go into the center of the stage, but rather below, where a certain blonde was standing…

A shriek was heard from below in the auditorium as Aubrey shielded her eyes with her forearm, stumbling backward before she ran into the stage and fell to the ground. Beca quickly turned the light off before crouching on the ground, both her and Chloe in hysterics over what had just transpired.

"Maybe it's for the best that you're on the stage instead of behind the scenes" Beca sputtered out eventually in between bouts of laughter. Moments later, a screech from the director's megaphone sounded as it was turned on.

"Chloe Beale, where are you? Front and Center Miss Beale!" The director shouted into the device. Beca turned toward Chloe, who was currently wide eyed due to the announcement.

"I should've been down there ten minutes ago" Chloe stated, looking at her phone as she got up from the floor. "See you later!" Chloe practically ran out of the balcony and down the marble staircase, rushing into the auditorium to reunite with the other cast members.

"Sorry" she quickly apologized to their director, who was looking sternly at her. She looked above towards the balcony, seeing Beca perched on its ledge, giving her a thumbs up. Chloe smirked up at the brunette, which did not go unnoticed by Aubrey, despite the fact that she was still seeing stars from the blinding light that had flooded her vision minutes ago.

"Am I the only one who remembers what happened last year between you and her?" Aubrey muttered quietly into Chloe's ear.

Chloe turned toward her best friend, "Things are different now" she insisted. Chloe was enjoying Beca's friendship and being around her, happy the silence between them was long gone now. Being friends with Beca was important to her; they may have lost track of this the year before, but both girls were determined to keep this in mind at their second attempt at being friends.

Aubrey eyed Beca up in the balcony before looking back at Chloe. "Just be careful. History has a way of repeating itself you know."

* * *

Timing was time's equally cold harsh sibling, Beca knew this much as well. While she may have spent four years not talking to Chloe at all, rarely did a day go on where she didn't think about the redhead. Beca abhorred how the timing of everything consistently seemed to work against her favor. Had she and Chloe become friends earlier than they did in high school, maybe, just maybe they would have realized their feeling for one another sooner and Beca wouldn't have talked to Luke for the extent that she had their junior year. Life was just one big chain reaction where one thing led to another. Timing and sequence were extremely important in such a chain; one misstep or one element out of place could cause the reaction as a whole to cease or destruct instead of completing the way it was meant.

Four years, a fifth of her current life spent on earth, without the one that her world once revolved around before it had all gone to hell. She had no right to complain, but less than a total of four months with Chloe in DC in comparison to the time spent apart from each other did not seem fair at all. Even worse, it had taken them a considerable amount of time to find their way back to one another, which was understandable; Beca wasn't so irrational as to think otherwise. Once again, Beca blamed timing for the fact that by the time she and Chloe had admitted to having feelings for one another, they had less than two weeks together before spending almost an entire week apart when they each returned home for Thanksgiving.

Despite all of this, Beca still couldn't believe at times that Chloe had feelings for her, convinced that she would change her mind about the entire thing at any given moment in time. This may have been why having Chloe fall asleep in her arms, an occurrence that could be counted on the fingers of just one of her hands, had become one of her favorite things. Having Chloe drift off to sleep as Beca had her arms wrapped securely around her as they lay in Beca's bed mesmerized her; it was confirmation that Chloe was hers and she was Chloe's and in that moment in time, with Chloe sound asleep and removed from the rest of the world, Beca wasn't in danger of losing Chloe. Who knows what the morning would bring once Chloe awoke, for surely it was too good to be true for something so good to last in Beca's life, or so Beca thought anyway. And to go a week without being able to hold Chloe close to her, a week without the scent of Chloe's perfume and shampoo permeating into the threads of her pillow and sheets? Considering how time often worked for Beca, the upcoming week-long trip back to Portland was going to be the longest week of her life.

Beca's eyes fluttered open as the alarm on her phone went off the morning of her flight home. It had somehow worked out that Aubrey and Chloe's flight to New York was scheduled less than two hours apart from Beca's flight to Oregon. The three roommates had decided to travel to the airport together that morning, even if it meant Beca had to wake up earlier and find one way or another to keep herself occupied as she waited for her flight. She regrettably untangled herself from Chloe as she got out of bed, quietly walking out of her bedroom and into the living room, half surprised to find that Aubrey was already awake.

"You're up early" Aubrey commented, coffee mug in hand as she sat on the couch. This much was true; Beca had set her alarm earlier than what was necessary to go through the contents of her suitcase before leaving the apartment to ensure she wasn't forgetting to bring anything with her.

"I could say the same thing to you" Beca croaked groggily, "Although you being up this early is probably habitual."

Aubrey smirked at the brunette as she sipped the hot beverage from her mug. "I would've woken up later than this believe it or not, but considering what happened during our flight over, I wanted to check everything one more time."

"What happened on your last flight?" Beca asked slowly as she made her way over to the kitchen, caffeine on her mind as she approached the coffee pot.

Aubrey waited for Beca to return to the living room before diving into her explanation. "Airport security thought Chloe's steel nail file was extremely suspect when they found it in her purse… which she apparently forgot was there in the first place." Aubrey paused as she arranged the sequence of events in her mind before continuing, "Which happens a lot apparently so it was a non-issue until Chloe, sans filter of course at five in the morning, decided to make a joke about hoping they didn't find the other contraband she had hid in her bags. Needless to say we almost missed our flight."

"Well then" Beca replied, not being able to hide the smile that was forming across her face, "You're deciding to fly again with her why?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes. "We're going to be fine this time, it was early and she was half asleep when she made the comment. I'll make sure she's caffeinated before we leave. She also agreed that I can scan through her bags before we leave to make sure we don't run into any problems when we get to the airport."

"Do you want some help?" Beca offered, "I have to pretty much do the same with my own luggage."

Aubrey nodded graciously. "I skimmed her luggage already so if you could double check me that would be great. I'm assuming you have a checklist for your own things?" Beca handed Aubrey the folded up sheet of paper she had arranged a few days prior as they unzipped suitcases, sitting on the living room floor together as they got to work.

"Are nail clippers considered suspect by TSA?" Beca asked, holding up the small tool for Aubrey to see.

Aubrey pursed her lips, considering the question. "With her luck, probably. Where did you find those?"

"In a zippered pocket within another pocket" Beca explained. "I should obviously never travel with her by plane, right?"

Aubrey laughed softly at the suggestion, "It might not be a bad thing to stick to travel by train or automobile." The blonde held up a gray t-shirt folded amongst Beca's other clothes packed in her suitcase. "I don't think this is yours."

Beca looked up at the item Aubrey was questioning, blushing slightly when she saw one of Chloe's college tees in Aubrey's hands. "She has one of mine for the week too" Beca muttered, averting eye contact with Aubrey.

"Can't say I didn't steal one of Jesse's shirts myself" Aubrey mused before putting the shirt amongst Beca's other articles of clothing. "So you two have talked everything out then I take it?"

Beca shrugged, zippering up Chloe's carry-on bag. "We really didn't do a whole lot of talking… wow that came out wrong" Beca quickly added as Aubrey raised an eyebrow at the statement, "We said what needed to be said, nothing more than that really. Why do you ask?"

"No reason in particular" Aubrey replied. "I only just assumed you would have talked about your past with one another together before moving ahead and all." She had meant to ask Chloe herself, but didn't want to seem like she was too overbearing to her best friend. While she knew it was something Chloe should have addressed to Beca, well knowing that what had occurred with Beca previously had deeply affected her best friend, she didn't want it to seem like she was meddling in her life and telling her what she should do.

"Not really, no" Beca replied, getting up from the floor to sit on the couch.

Aubrey knew that if Beca wasn't fully aware of Chloe's insecurities and hesitations, it was just a matter of time until Chloe would potentially snap and lash out at her for what she had done years ago, even if Chloe currently felt strongly about Beca. Aubrey also knew that Beca didn't deserve to be blind-sided by that, and that Chloe should really have communicated to Beca the reservations she held. "I changed my mind" Aubrey stated, getting up off the floor as she stood up, standing in the middle of the living room.

"About what?" Beca asked, unsure of where the blonde was going with her statement.

Aubrey walked the few steps over, standing next to the couch where Beca sat, leaning over as her hands rested on one of the armrests, the sound of Beca's bedroom door beginning to open down the hallway heard by both women. "She's not the one that has to worry about getting her heart broken this time around."

**A/N: Okay everyone, I decided to do this chapter in a slightly different style than normal with the present-day sections, I hope they made sense and weren't too confusing. On another note, here's the thing about the last chapter: I got a lot of feedback saying it was kind of anticlimactic and didn't add up much to what had happened the chapter before- I wrote it that way intentionally, at least in the sense that things shouldn't seem completely okay between Beca and Chloe at the end of the last chapter even if what they are saying suggests otherwise. Gold star for those of you who pointed that out-surely I am not going to make it that easy for them to get back together and have a potential happy ending (what can I say, I'm a terrible person). All I can say is be patient with me, I have 2 or 3 chapters that still have to be written before this story ends and everything is resolved one way or another. Thanks again for reading and a big thank-you for everyone who is reviewing and giving me feedback.**

**Song lyrics are from Mayday Parade's "I Swear This Time I Mean It."**


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